


Wings of Change

by Ruunkur



Category: Homestuck
Genre: And in the last few chapters, I want to eventually try writing happy fanfics, The last six characters are mostly dead, maybe one day - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-22
Updated: 2017-09-20
Packaged: 2018-12-18 18:38:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 12
Words: 35,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11880438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ruunkur/pseuds/Ruunkur
Summary: Seven years ago, a group of twelve trolls and four humans tried to overthrow Her Imperial Condescension. Several had died and there was no actual account of who died. You managed to survive, despite reports saying otherwise. It's been seven years and you are approached by a stranger that looks similar to someone you knew. Your life is thrown into chaos and you pick something up that you thought was going to simply die.You're not sure how you feel, but you feel like doom is going to be the outcome in the end.No Sburb AU.  Human and trolls live on the same world(kinda). Condescension is in power.





	1. Second First Step

**Author's Note:**

> I hate coding pesterlogs.
> 
> And coding in general. Coding these things suck.

You stare at the book, feeling the time tick down slowly. You only have several hours of night left before you have to retreat. You glance up when you hear a door slam, feeling your breath catch. You are twelve and a half sweeps old and on the run. You hear another door open and close, letting out a low breath before jumping, a hand coming down in front of you.

"You're the one that's been sneaking in here at night." The voice growls and you bite into the scarf that is covering most of your face. You don't move your hands to tug on the hat, instead placing the book on the table carefully. You were careful to not reveal who you are. Trolls were not very welcome in the city.

"Yes," you say, picking your words with extreme care.

"You're a troll, aren't you?" The figure asks and you see that he's wearing pointy shades. You take a look over him, sucking in a breath as you recall another blond haired man you knew.

"You're wearing shades in the dark?" You shoot back, biting on your bottom lip. The blond haired kid arches an eyebrow, crossing his arms. He's wearing a tank top, despite it edging towards winter.

"Yeah, I guess so." He says with a shrug, letting his arms fall to his sides. "So are you a troll or just some weird hipster? Hipsters wear stupid scarves, but not hats."

"Do you know the trouble trolls have caused?" You shoot back.

"There's a troll who is on the run for suspected foul play regarding the Empress and her ward. He's been on the run for seven years now. Same with several others. They were pinned for the death of the Heiress Feferi Peixes." The man sits in the chair across from you, meeting your gaze.

"Wow, is that what they're callin it now?" You ask, tugging down your scarf so the human could hear you correctly. "Foul play, huh? And it would be wise if you didn't mention the name of the heiress."

"Know something about it?" The human asks and you roll your eyes.

"If I knew somethin about it, would I be alive, here?" You ask. "They would have tracked me down and culled me for foul play against the heiress, as you call it. No, I don't know anythin."

"If you were innocent, you wouldn't be slinking around in the dark." The human says. "Dirk Strider," he sticks out your hand and you look at it before glancing up at him.

"You find me breakin into a library, tell me you know what kind a trouble trolls are, then offer me a handshake?" You ask, raising an eyebrow. "Are you missin some brain cells or somethin Strider?"

"Nah, I'm just more of a..." Dirk shrugs, watching you. "Daredevil,"

"Don't suppose you're the contact that reached out?" You ask, leaning back in your chair. The cryptic message was the reason you were in the library at all. When you saw the initials, you thought it was one of the old group, but this kid wasn't familiar, beyond looking similar to- "Dave Strider's your older brother."

"Heh, I suppose he is," Dirk says, taking a chair. "How do you know him?"

"Who says I know him?" You ask.

"I'll tell you what I know, if you tell me what you know." Dirk shoots back.

"We shouldn't talk about it in a public place," you say after a moment.

"Then I know a place we can crash at." Dirk gets up and you follow, glancing at your abandoned book. "It's my apartment, kinda messy. Don't get your hopes up, okay?"

You roll your eyes and follow him after fixing your scarf. You have two hours before daylight. You wouldn't make it to your safe place in that time. Not with wasting your time here. "You know the thing where trolls can't be out in the daylight?"

"Yeah yeah, you're welcome to spend the day there too if need be. We have a lot of things to discuss." Dirk says and you roll your shoulders back, following him. You have your hand near your hip, ready to draw a weapon if need be. The walk is short, twenty minutes and Dirk's apartment is on the third floor. You see a window with easy access out to the fire escape and you don't rest until he has all of the windows covered with heavy duty blinds. The sun won't straight out kill you, but you didn't want to take the chances. You had spent one summer with a nasty sunburn from your stupidity and you weren't chancing it again.

"You know the original humans helpin us died," you say, taking a seat at the table. It was the first thing either of you had said since you left the library. You can't take the silence anymore. You push aside paperwork on the table to clear a space in front of you and see Dirk nod.

"Yeah, bro left me a note telling me everything. That was, what...five years ago?" Dirk asks, taking another chair and meeting your gaze. His shades are on and you proceed to take off your hat, fluffing up your hair between your horns. One is chipped half way down, and you see Dirk eyeing it. You slowly unwind your scarf, shaking your head and letting out a puff of air to get your gills working again. You would have rathered breathed through your gills than your nose given the chance but the scarf made that an impossibility.

"Seven," you correct automatically. "Seven years ago, twelve trolls and four humans went up against the Condesce. Two trolls died, the heiress disappeared, the humans were culled, and the other ten trolls were cast out and were to be hunted and culled on sight if they were found again. We were twenty years old then, by human standard. Dave said he had a younger bro, age thirteen. You're twenty now, right?"

"Correct," Dirk says with a nod. "I got in touch with some of the cousins of the original four humans... Roxy Lalonde, Jane Crocker, and Jake English. We want to help end the Condesce's reign. Humans can't continue to survive under her reign. And from the looks of it, trolls can't either."

"Kid, do you know what you're getting yourself into?" You ask, propping up an elbow on the table and resting your chin on it. "Do you have a plan for getting the other trolls to work with you? Do you even know who you're lookin for?"

"I want revenge against the batterwitch." Dirk says through gritted teeth. "Dave... He left me all of the notes that he had on you guys and on the batterwitch. She took my family from me."

"A kid with a god complex," you say and chuckle, reminded of yourself in your youth. "You want to cull the batterwitch? You have to find the heiress to be able to make a move against the Condesce. Without a viable heiress, you aren't able to move. You cull her, there's no one to step in for the troll empress."

"I don't have a god complex." Dirk retorts and you meet his gaze as much as you could through his shades. You feel old beyond your years as you sigh. "I want to finish what my bro started. We have the ability to end it."

"Who's related to who?" You ask.

"Roxy is Rose's cousin; Jake is Jade's cousin; Jane is John's younger sister." Dirk says. "We grew up pretty close. We talked about it for the last few years. Dave got to leave behind a pretty rad movie business. Rose got her books. John and Jade... Us? We don't leave behind anything and we lost family. Which trolls died? I could never figure that one out. The reports don't match up. You're supposed to be dead."

"How'd you find me?" You ask.

"I set a robot to track you down. I figured, if anything, there would be a confirmation that you were dead. He found you two days ago. I found some of your stuff in Dave's old shit. I don't know what you were to my bro..."

"Just friends," you say. "Close friends, but just friends. I didn't get along with a whole lot of trolls. I was too radical in my ideas. Dave and Kar got me, so we spent a lot of time together. I guess, if anything, I would have considered Dave a moirail. But we never talked about it officially." You shrug, deciding that those feelings had grown cold enough to look at without pain filling you. "It was a long time ago though."

"So, that still leaves me with my other question. Who died?" Dirk ask, voice hollow. "None of our family made it back..."

"Officially, or unofficially?" You ask, watching Dirk.

"Your view of both," Dirk decides.

"Officially, myself, Feferi Peixes, Equius Zahhak, Terezi Pyrope, Tavros Nitram, and Kanaya Maryam. Unofficially, Karkat Vantas and Gamzee Makara were the only two trolls that died. Kan went back to the brooding caverns that the Condesce set up here. She has a one percent chance of gettin out. Fef went into hidin. You have to find the others if you want to even attempt a coup Strider. They're your best bet at getting anywhere close to the level of the Condesce." You say, remembering the reports the day after the failed coup, the picture of the troll's body to look like Feferi's. You grimace at the thought, shaking the memories away. It hadn't been foul play, but they pinned the blame on you, said you were culled, and gave the quiet orders to have you culled on sight if you were ever seen again.

"I have the official list. But, only two trolls died, right? Why list six? And why list six that didn't even die?" Dirk asks.

"She needed a way to cover up the humans' deaths." You comment with a wave of your hand. "Rose and Dave were strong celebrities of their time, even being as young as they were. She couldn't say that she culled them. Then humans would have thought they had a chance to get out from under her. By giving a list of mostly high bloods, when you only managed to cull four humans, a mutant, and a purple blood, she would have made herself look...not good. But, you get the point. The ones that were supposedly culled went to ground, except Kanaya. She refused to leave Rose's body and got caught. Jade bloods don't get the option of not being down in the caverns."

"So where's Feferi now?" Dirk asks and you shrug.

"My best bet? Hidin somewhere with her moirail and matesprit." You say, scratching at your fin in thought. "Vriska deflected, in theory, and joined the empire. She works under them as a captain, but she's not one to stand for that position. The others, I have no idea. Most disappeared into the wilds." You let out a defeated sigh, glancing down when you see Dirk shove a list under your nose. You look at it, seeing the names of your friends.

__Feferi Peixes: Location unknown(dead?  
_Eridan Ampora: Wanderer, tends to stay undercover, wears hats, scarves, and will often find libraries to read in at night - contacted_  
_Gamzee Makara: Location unknown(dead?)_  
_Equius Zahhak: Presumed dead_  
_Vriska Serket: Captain of empirical ships; gift granted for deflecting_  
_Terezi Pyrope: Presumed dead_  
_Kanaya Maryam: Location unknown(dead?)_  
_Nepeta Leijon: Living in the wilds?_  
_Karkat Vantas: Location unknown(dead?)_  
_Tavros Nitram: Presumed dead; last seen in the woods_  
_Sollux Captor: Helmsman to the Empress-unofficial(official: No record)_  
_Aradia Megido: Location unknown(dead?)  
_

You look over the list, unsurprised by the lack of detail. You pull a pen out of your sylladex, making changes. "Feferi is hiding with Sollux and Nepeta. They went into the wilds. They were guided by Nepeta and then they split up from others. Three and two are harder to track than five. I'm here. Gamzee is dead. Equius with Aradia or Nepeta; Vriska working for the Condesce and Terezi is livin with her. Kanaya is in the brooding caverns. Karkat is dead, and Tavros... I have no idea where he is. Probably in the wilds as well. How did you find me? Why am I the only one with any detailed information?"

"Tracked you down," Dirk says with a shrug. 

"Right, with the robot thing. I suggest you not do that in the future. I didn't want to be found." You grumble.

"Make yourself harder to find then," Dirk suggests.

"Someone who doesn't stay in one area longer than a week, maybe a month, doesn't want to be found." You point out. Dirk shakes his head and you decide to drop the subject. "Why not look for other trolls to help you? Why do you need us?"

"You have powers, same as my brother did. That was in his notes. Well, Rose made the notes, but he left them for me." Dirk says.

"Ah fuck," you sigh. You run a hand through your hair, tugging at a tangle for a moment before looking at Dirk. You feel dead on the inside but now you realize there is no getting out of this. "Look kid, you don't know what-"

"You're a Prince of Hope," Dirk says, meeting your gaze. "I'm a Prince of Heart; Jane is a Witch of Life; Roxy a Rogue of Void; and Jake is a Page of Hope. Rose was a Seer of Light; Dave a Knight of Time; John an Heir of Breath; and Jade was a Witch of Space. There is a prophecy that says those with power will rise and overthrow the Condesce. Humans can't continue living in these conditions. Even trolls are dying out. The condesce is going to end up destroying both our races."

"What do you want me ta do kid?" You ask, looking at Dirk. "I'm old, I don't want to fight. I tried it before and all it did was make me an outcast."

"You're twenty seven in human years, twelve and a half sweeps, you aren't that old." Dirk scoffs. "Trolls live a long, long time. You can span, for your blood color, upwards of two thousand sweeps. Don't be calling yourself old now."

"I feel old from the tips of my horns down to the bottom of my feet." You say. "What makes you think that you can defeat the Condesce when your brother couldn't?"

"We're better prepared. We know trolls that have fought her before." Dirk says. "We want information on how to defeat her. She's getting older. I looked into it. Our records go back about three thousand years, and they still include her in them. She's been here a long time and won't leave unless we do something about it."

"There was a group before us, led by the Summoner, that was the reason we aren't even allowed to stay on our home planet and why so many of us aren't born there. And before the Summoner there was the Signless. He was publicly executed for preachin peace among the blood castes. You don't have all the information needed to take anyone on. Not even Rose could have written everything down. She tried, I'm sure. We didn't even have all the information and good people died because we tried. You put your head into the ground, make sure she doesn't hear that you have powers. You keep your head down, make sure that you stay out of trouble. And don't do anythin stupid." You suggest. "She'll come after you for even showin signs of powers of an aspect."

"Are you the reason they failed?" Dirk demands. You glance towards the window. There is not enough time to make it to your hole before daylight hits. You let out a hiss, leaning back in the chair.

"I am not the reason-" You begin and raise an arm above your head lazily as a sword comes down. You grit your teeth, ignoring the blade cutting into the skin of your arm. "LISTEN TO ME!" You snarl, showing Dirk fangs.

"I-" Dirk began.

"No, if I help you, you will listen to me." You say, pulling the blade from your arm. He had let go of the handle when you spoke up. Violet blood gushes onto the wood and you're pulling a piece of fabric from your sylladex to press against the cut. You look at it, remembering when you had a cape that you wore. Now it was in tatters and you were almost out of those scraps.

"I'll listen," Dirk says, picking up the sword and placing it on the table. "You're welcome to stay the day as well. Your reflexes are pretty up to par."

"I can't convince you to put this path aside?" You ask finally, looking through your sylladex and pulling out what you needed.

"No, I'll go by myself it that's what it takes." Dirk says and you inwardly sigh. You could picture him getting culled easily with how he was reacting.

"Don't pull that shit again or I will leave. And I wasn't going to ask, I was just going to stay." You comment, eyeing him. "There is going to be a trick to this. Just...what's your wifi password?" You ask, your husktop already pulled out. Your mind is turning, and you wonder if you would even be able to catch the others online.

"Lilcal, first l is capital." Dirk says. "Do you want me to look at your arm?"

"No, it'll be fine. I'll file it under misunderstandin. Try me again, and it won't be a misunderstandin when you're on the ground, got it?" You say simply, pulling up the old chat client and looking over the list.

"Got it, won't happen again." Dirk says.

You purse your lips, glancing up at Dirk when your husktop connected. "How secure is this connection?"

"Nothing can be tracked. I set everything up so it's secure. Well, Roxy and I did." Dirk corrects. "Roxy mostly honestly. She's a hacker and does a great job at this type of thing." Dirk muses.

"That's all I needed to know," you say, looking over the trollian contact list. Your heart skips a beat when you see Karkat's username, grayed out in permanent offline. You push the feelings aside, finding the one you wanted, and with luck, she was online.

\---caligulasAquarium began trolling cuddlingCatfish---  
\---cuddlingCatfish is an idle troll!---

CA: uhm  
CA: if it werent important  
CA: i wouldnt be messagin  
CA: you around  
CA: i promise this isnt me trying to get you back  
CA: i had feelings for others  
CA: but theyre dead so  
CA: this is not sob story time  
CA: dirk is getting impatient

CC: -Eridan?  


CA: yeah  
CA: theres a kid that wants to get back for his bros death  


CC: O)( MY GLUB -Eridan!!!!  
CC: It's been a long time!  


CA: yeah  
CA: that was the point  
CA: we had to  
CA: split up and not talk  


CC: w----ELL, w)(y message me now t)(en?  


CA: dirk strider  
CA: can we get everyone together  
CA: he wants to take on and try to finish what we started  


CC: STRID----ER???  
CC: but )(e died  
CC: Along with Karcrab  
CC: 38(

CA: Yes but this  
CA: its the younger brother of dave  
CA: you have a better chance of contactin the others than I do  


CC: yea)(  
CC: )(e's wanting to do W)(AT???  


CA: fight the condesce  


CC: 38(  
CC: i dont t)(ink t)(ats smart  


CA: i cant talk long  
CA: can we meet up in the new moon  


CC: t)(ats in less t)(an a mont)(  
CC: I'll make it work  
CC: New moon  


CA: thank you

\---caligulasAquarium ceased trolling cuddlingCatfish---

You rub your temples, looking up at Dirk. "We're going to meet up at the new moon. Meaning you and your friends are leaving town tomorrow in order to get to where we need to go."

"I-" Dirk looked at him, wide eyed.

"We can only move in the dark. I can't handle the sun well. Or we get solar protection gear. That's shit expensive though. Unless you have spare ones hangin around." You chew on the bottom of your lip, closing your eyes and rubbing your temples harder. The onset of a migraine would make planning so much easier. "Fuck,"

"Here," Dirk says, disappearing and reappearing with something to clean the gash on your arm. "I...You're really going to help us?"

"Yes," you say with a nod. "Fef is goin to round up the others. I don't know what we can do to help you. But, I guess we can try to help. I'm not promisin anythin grand." You turn your eyes back to the husktop. You glance at the objects Dirk had set down, shaking your head and shrugging. "I'll take a shower and clean it later."

"I'll call up my friends and have them meet up here. And we'll leave this up coming evening? We may even be able to score some solar protection gear." Dirk says and you nod absently.

\---caligulasAquarium began pesting arachnidsGrip---

CA: i know what angle your playin at  


CG: eridan????????  
CG: Woooooooow, what do I owe this surpr8se to?  


CA: you hate your position  
CA: were gettin the old team together  
CA: bring pyrope  
CA: old waterin hole, new moon  


CG: You know I could 8e culled  


CA: and  
CA: the point serket  


CG: Im in  
CG: New moon ;;;;)  
CG: well 8oth 8e there  


CA: see you then

\---caligulasAquarium ceased pestering arachnidsGrip---

\---caligulasAquarium began pestering cuddlingCatfish--- 

CA: cg is in

\---caligulsAquariuam ceased pestering cuddlingCatfish---

You sit back from your husktop, not looking over any other handles before closing the chat client. You look up, seeing Dirk's eyes on you. "Do you have a place I can sleep? I mean, I'll take an ablution trap that I can fill up with water."

"When was the last time you slept in an actual bed?" Dirk asks and you shrug.

"I've had a place or two that I can dip into. Bathrooms have a tendency to not have windows. Best place to stay." You explain. "I mean, if you don't mind. I can't leave now. Will end up caught outside, ya know how that goes."

"Yeah, no, feel free to have the bathroom. I have things I need to set up and I'll make sure everyone is ready to go tonight." Dirk says, getting up and leading you to the bathroom. You look it over, impressed by the size of the tub. You sit on the edge, letting the clean water run through your hand before stoppering the tub. You would have to sleep curled up, but that would be okay. It was still larger than you had originally expected.

"Need somethin Strider?" You ask, realizing he's still by the door.

"Did Dave go down fighting?" Dirk asks.

"Yeah, he went down fighting hard. He..." You pause, gritting your teeth. "He was dating Kar at the time. When the Condesce culled him, Kar jumped right in and got himself culled. Dave was the third ta last ta die."

"I didn't know Dave was dating anyone." Dirk comments and you look up at him. You see that his shades are shoved up on his head, his orange eyes boring into you.

"No, it wasn't common knowledge. I think only a handful of people knew in our group. I was close with Karkat and Dave, it's why I knew about them. Not moirails with Kar, that was Gamzee's role. He jumped in afterwards and tried to take on the Condesce himself. Got pretty damn close. You don't step between a moirail and their dead partner." You sigh, resting your chin in the palm of your hand thoughtfully. "They all went down fighting Dirk. And they didn't go down easy."

"Thank you," Dirk said and left the bathroom. You lock the door, stripping down and stepping into the ablution trap. You rinse off, enjoying the feel of water against your skin. You finish, filling up the tub and curling up on your side, eyes closed.


	2. Into the Woods

"You did what DIRK!?"

You open your eyes when you hear the muffled shouting, your heart pounding in your ears. You're still in the water, but you get yourself up slowly, drying yourself off and rifling through your sylladex before finding a spare set of cleaner clothes. No need to alert the person yelling that you're in the area. You pull on the clothes, looking down at the black shirt. It was thin and you would have to replace it soon. You push the thought away, sitting on the edge of the tub to listen. You glance at the time on your disposable palmhusk when you find it, grunting when you saw it was only noon. Not enough sleep, but it would have to do for now. It seems like lately, you've been running on not enough sleep and too little time.

"Roxy, I did what I thought best." Dirk says. You could imagine him gritting his teeth. You wonder if Roxy looked as similar to Rose as Dirk did to Dave.

"You tracked down a troll, a criminal-" The female voice, Roxy, began before Dirk cuts her off.

"He fought against the Batterwitch before. He fought with my brother, your cousin... He can get the others. Roxy, if we do this, we need at least the heiress." Dirk says. "We need the trolls' help. And he's only a criminal because the _Batterwitch_ says he is. I don't believe it's true for one moment."

"The heiress was culled, you saw the reports." Roxy sniffs and you wonder how long she would keep trying to repress the tears. You can hear that she's not convinced about the reports, her voice wavering on the word.

"Six trolls dead, no humans mentioned." Dirk points out. "They're still going through my bro's movie scripts, and your cousin's book scripts. The world as a whole thinks that they're still alive. But, they never came back. You saw the notes that we all got from them. They wouldn't just abandon us Roxy. Not like that, not if they didn't have a choice."

"Yeah?" Roxy asks, voice bitter. "Who did you rope into helping you?"

"Eridan Ampora," Dirk says.

"That's the violet seadweller they claimed was dead." Roxy points out. You wrap your scarf around your neck, unable to bear standing there listening anylonger, unlock the door and step out of the bathroom. The rest of your clothes had been tucked into your sylladex. The girl, she did look strikingly similar to Rose after all, didn't notice you but Dirk turns to look at you, shades still covering his face.

"It's the empire Roxy, a course they're gonna fuckin lie. You can't be tellin a bunch a weak humans that four humans and twelve trolls nearly took down the fuckin Condesce. She don't play fair. We ain't gonna play fair in return." You say, striding into the living room and nodding at her. "Eridan Ampora, nice ta meet ya."

"Holy shit," Roxy says, looking at you with wide eyes. You glance towards the window, blinking in the bright light and quickly turning away from it. Dirk walks over, dropping the curtain down. "An actual fucking troll. Are you crazy Strider?"

"I'm not going to hurt ya," you say with a sigh. "Are the other two gonna react the same way? If so, I would rather avoid the starin." You wave at Roxy, the girl snapping her jaw shut and turning a hard glare to you.

"It was me and my cousin for the longest time. Her mom disappeared and mine died when I was young. We only had each other... Then she disappears when I'm thirteen. Killed by a fucking troll and now Dirky here wants to work with the trolls?" Roxy says, glancing at Dirk and you shrug. "Is this why you asked if I still had the solar protection garments from Rosey?"

"Yes, actually. Did you bring them?" Dirk asks, his voice hard.

You knew how hard it would be to work with someone who could be the being responsible for the death of a loved one.

"Yeah but-" Roxy sighs, pulling the garments out of her sylladex. "Dirk..." Her voice sounds defeated, and deflated. You sense her dejection at the idea, but her unwillingness to argue further.

"What the empress didn't release was that there were only two trolls that died during the fight. The heiress is still alive, livin underground with her moirail and matesprit, kinda anyway. They culled Karkat Vantas when he tried to take on the Condesce by himself after she culled Dave Strider. Upon seein his moirail culled, Gamzee Makara flipped some serious shit and nearly beat the shit out a the Condesce before he was culled. It gave everyone else the time needed to escape, except Kanaya Maryam, who refused to leave her dying matesprit’s side. She was chained and forced to return to the broodin cavern that was set up here, as befits her class per the empire." You hesitate, glancing between the two. You had heard the door open as you stared the explanation but no one had bothered interrupting so you continue on.

"Fef, Nep, Equius, Sol, Ara, and Tav all disappeared into the wilds. Vriska took up a position as a captain. She had turned on us durin the battle and was offered a spot on the fleet. We were all offered positions, if we fought against our friends. However, she hid her moirail from the Condesce, Terezi Pyrope, under the bitch's nose. And I... Took up wanderin around. It was easier than hidin in some god forsaken forest. I couldn't handle stayin in one place." You don't break eye contact from Roxy as you speak. "Kanaya was datin your cousin, Rose. It was unheard a at the time, a human dating a troll. They made it work. And she wouldn't leave Rose's side. We ain't all bad Lalonde."

"Gadzooks," someone behind you whistles and you grit your teeth. Maybe hiding wouldn't have been such a bad thing, now that you think about it. Though you wonder if the stupid robot would have tracked you all the way into the forest given the chance. "What a wonderful story Mr. Ampora. Jake English, pleased to meet you."

You turn and level your gaze at him, considering your actions before you glance at the other woman that had come in with Jake. "Jane Crocker?" You guess.

"Yes," Jane says, looking you up and down. "Dirk, are you sure that we can trust him?"

"I'm as trustworthy as any other troll you might stumble upon. At least....I won't cull you just for lookin at me wrong." You glance between them and then turn to look at Dirk. "We need to leave at dusk. Are all a you ready to go on an adventure?"

"Dirk," Jane says and you feel yourself inwardly groan. You can sense trouble brewing already.

"We're doing this," Roxy says, surprising you though you don't show it. "Eridan worked with the trolls and our cousins and Dirk's bro. Besides, we have our powers. We've been practicing them in secret for years now. If there is ever a time to strike."

"I told him," Dirk says, gesturing to you. "Our cousins and bro had powers too. I'm sure the trolls-"

"We all have powers." You break in, not wanting to argue the finer points. "It was one a the reasons that we got so far in the fight with the Condesce to begin with. She's weaker now than she had been in a long time. The fight against sixteen took a lot out of her. Maybe if we had a rebound team then, it would have gone better; we may have all been alive even. But we'll be meeting up with others that have harden experience against her." You had doubts that all ten of them would even want to show up.

"Does she have powers as well?" Jake asks and you look at him, surprised by the question.

You consider it before you answer, picking the words carefully. "Yeah, she even had a group when she was younger, before power corrupted her. She's the last a them. She's a Thief of Life. Gettin hard to maintain in her old age. Our heiress is a Witch of Life." You explain, ignoring Dirk's attempts to interrupt. That had been a nasty surprise to learn. "What's left a her old group... The Helmsman, Mituna Captor. Held against his will, he's an heir of doom. Won't be of much use to anyone. Mainly doesn't have much will left to live. His brain is beyond gone as well, seeing how everything went within the recent sweeps-years. Other than that, she's alone save for those trolls that still want her on the throne. There aren't many, I promise you that. Where's that list I wrote on Dirk?"

Dirk produced it and you look it over, grabbing a clean sheet and rewriting the list quickly. It was based off shaky memories of where the others said they were going. You laugh inwardly as you write, the violet pen making you grimace. Too close to your own blood color, but not close enough for your tastes.

_Feferi Peixes: Wilds; Witch of Life_  
Eridan Ampora: Present; Prince of Hope  
Gamzee Makara: Dead; Bard of Rage  
Equius Zahhak: Wilds w/ Nep; Heir of Void  
Vriska Serket: Ship Captain; Thief of Light  
Terezi Pyrope: Moirail of Serket; Seer of Mind  
Kanaya Maryam: Brooding Caverns; Sylph of Space  
Nepeta Leijon: Wilds w/ Sol; Rogue of Heart  
Karkat Vantas: Dead; Knight of Blood  
Tavros Nitram: Wilds; Page of Breath  
Sollux Captor: Wilds w/ Fef; Mage of Doom  
Aradia Megido: Wilds w/ Tav; Maid of Time 

You look over the list, trying to figure out what you felt like was missing. You tap your pen against the tabletop, shaking your head. "Aspects are a rare type of magic. The fact that we had one of each in our group lead us to believe that we draw to each other likes moths to a flame. One day, you're a normal kid, doing your business, next you have these powers. I'm sure you all experienced something like that?" You glance at the four, each of them sporting a semi-guilty expression.

"Yeah, something like that. The only people we could ask were gone by the time they developed. If you had just waited two more years.." Dirk says finally, voice barely puncturing the silence. He sounded young in that moment.

"It's in the past," you point out. You tip your head, about to say something and freeze when you hear heavy footfalls on the steps outside. "Anyone else live in this building?" You ask, remembering Dave insisting that he owned the building he and his bro lived in. He had wanted the place to be safe as possible in case the Condesce decided to go after him if they failed in their mission.

"No," Dirk says, eyes hardening as he draws a weapon from his strife specibus. You take a breath, pulling your scarf to cover most of your face and forgoing the hat.

"Roxy, do you have the solar garments?" You ask, voice muffled.

"Yeah," Roxy says, pointing them out on the table. You snatch them up, throwing them over you and pulling up the hood. A light mesh covers your face and scarf and you tug on the gloves. You're a gray blob and you move a step back as Jane raises a giant spoon. You pull out your gun, counting the seconds before the door burst open. Before the others even get a chance, you're blasting your gun, splatters of colorful blood hitting the wall. Four bodies collapse and you wince at the noise.

"We leave now," you snap, placing your gun across your back, using your cloak to cover it. Still within easy access if you had to grab it, but hidden from prying eyes. You glance at the humans, wondering what had given them away before you glance at Jake and Jane. "Either a you have anything connected to the Batterwitch?"

"Ah shucks," Jane says, looking at her wrist, a watch resting on it. She tugs it off and throws it over her shoulder. You eye her, tapping your forehead. She reaches up, yanking off the tiara and then you're all on the move. You glance at them, making your way down the stairs, past the bodies of the now lifeless trolls. The urge to throw up rises in your gut but you push it down, deciding now wouldn't be the best time to mention your aversion to killing things. It had seemed so much simpler before you ended up with blood on your hands. No one but Dave had the time then to talk to you.

You lead the group of humans through the semi-crowded streets of the city. You keep your head down, your pace even as you pass by humans. You feel them give you curious and sometimes terrified glances and hostile stares and glares. You know a troll in the middle of the day is rare. You know the humans resentment against trolls has only grown since the failed rebellion. The Condesce had come down harder on the humans after that. It had made getting in and out of cities and towns a lot harder. They didn't want you here. Even more of a reason to stay inside during the day.

You let your thoughts roll over you, keeping your eyes peeled for anyone that may be following you. The hood keeps the shape of you completely covered and your grateful that the garments are larger than you would have wanted. It was easier to keep everything concealed.

You pause, Dirk catching up to you and stopping. The others were two steps behind. You're on the edge of town, beyond you lays the forest and you nod, walking out of civilization. To get here, it had taken nearly an hour. By yourself, it would have taken maybe twenty minutes jogging.

"We need to keep our guard up. There are rogue lusi in the forests and not all of them will react kindly to us being in their territory. We have about two weeks of travel to get to the meeting place. We have three weeks to do it in. Do you four have everything you need to get through a forest?" You ask. You hadn't intended on leaving so suddenly. But things happen and plans change. There were already too many variables for you to be comfortable with.

"How do we know when we find the spot?" Dirk asks, being the first to speak other than you.

"You'll know," is all you say before you forge forward. You zig zag for a couple of hours, stopping when you see two of the kids begin to lag behind. You grit your teeth, shoving aside the annoyance and gesturing for them to sit. It's getting colder out despite the above average autumn temperatures and you riffle through your sylladex, pulling out two tents and beginning to set them up. You finish the tent set up, glancing back and watching the kids. One had started a fire and you nod in appreciation as you sit. It's dark now and you want to keep moving, but you know you can't keep pushing them.

"You four can split the two tents between you. I'll take first watch." You say, pulling the hood off and your scarf down so they could understand you over the seadweller accent. It got worse the more muffled your voice was. And it was dark enough you were willing to expose your skin. "Do you have food?"

"Enough to last us maybe two weeks, if we all pool together." Dirk says, glancing at you. "Not accounting for you." He admits. You figure they had talked about it while you were setting up the tents and let it slide.

"I can find my own food. Or, I'll just go without for now." You shrug. It wouldn't have been the first time you hadn't eaten for more than a couple of weeks. "There will be food when we meet up with the others. Besides, it takes a long time for seadwellers to starve to death."

"Mr. Ampora, how did you lose the tip of your horn?" Jake asks to break the tension, leaning forward across from the fire. The others quickly glance away and you realize your last statement had scared them.

"In the fight with the Condesce," you say after a moment. "I was thrown into a wall and had it snap off. It was very painful."

"Can you tell us more about her?" Jane asks, distributing food to the other three and accounting what they had left. She offers you some food as she asks her question.

You politely decline, thinking you might still have some left in your sylladex anyway. You pull it out, riffling through it and finding something that would pass as a meal, keen to ignore the hard look Jane gave you when she saw what you were eating for a meal. You would try hunting later. "I'm sure there are a lot of things I could tell you, but it's goin to wait til mornin." You decide, taking in how exhausted they looked. "You look dead on your feet, there are some lovely tents all set up. Now, off to bed." You get the kids off to bed once they have eaten-even though they protested, and sat down for a watch, gun across your lap. You let the fire go low, keeping an eye on it to make sure it didn't die completely. You didn't want to have to restart it again.

You sit still when you feel the tip of a lance at the back of your spine. You're rigid, knowing it's only halfway through the night. You hadn't counted on encountering anyone this early into the forest. Maybe it was a human ranger doing rounds. You can't remember if camping was even allowed in this part of the forest. Something in the back of your mind said it wasn't.

"State your business," the voice says and you count to ten before you begin to talk, needing to find your center.

"Eridan Ampora, guide. My group are the kids in the tents and I have no intentions of destroying the forest." You say, the lie coming to mind sluggishly. You touch your core of power, wondering if you could destroy this guy's hope of catching you doing something wrong. It's a feather touch and you feel the lance stab deeper.

"What's your blood color?" The voice asks and you let out a shallow breath.

"Violet," you say, tensing ever so slightly.

"Eridan Ampora is reported dead-"

And you turn, aiming a fist at the speaker's head, your other hand sliding down the lance and yanking it upwards, pulling it away from the troll. You quickly side step as he moves forward, throwing his lance to the ground when you pried it from his hands. Your gun is already in your free hand and you're lifting it up, pointing it at the troll's chest. You look at the brown blood eyes, and then his horns.

"Tavros Nitram," you say finally, not moving your gun from his chest. You let go of your hope power, deciding it wasn't worth it. "Holy shit Tav, you're..."

"Grown up? Filled out? Buff as fuck?" Tavros asks, pushing himself up and looking Eridan over. "You, on the other hand, look like shit."

"Thanks," You sigh, sitting back down in front of the fire and hiding Crosshairs once more under your garments. "Sorry, we really don't mean on destroying your forest. Did Fef get ahold of you?"

"No, but Nepeta did." Tavros looks at you, shaking his head. "I'm guessing the humans are in the tents? You mentioned that before."

"Yeah," you say, keeping your voice low. "I don't know what I should do. I've been debating back and forth. I don't know if it's worth letting them throw their lives away for this."

"They want to fight the Condesce?" Tavros frowns and you meet his gaze.

"They want to finish what their family members and we started." You correct and gesture to the fire, Tavros grabbing a stick and stirring it up.

"Did you try to talk them out of it?" Tavros asks and you shrug. "Feferi is pretty determined to get everyone back together. She had Nepeta show up at my hive door this morning. She left as soon as it got dark out. So, I figured I would keep an eye out for you. The humans aren't going to get you very far, you know that, right?"

"I tried talking them out of it. I can give them what knowledge I have, offer to plan a strategy and hope it doesn't go to shit... Get as much backup as I can... But the one thing I can't do is determine if this is a fool's errand or not. Or if any of the others will actually join. No, wait, Vris already said she would, as would Fef." You scratch at your chin, glancing towards the tents. You wonder if any of them were light sleepers and were lying awake, listening to you talk to Tavros now.

"You must have done a pretty shit job at it." Tavros says and you give him a startled look. "I'm not the stammering fool I once was. Fighting the Condesce helped me with that. You could have destroyed their hope, a little touch here....a little touch there."

"I'm not goin to. I think we have a chance," even as you say the words, you're surprised that it's you saying them. Moments ago, you hadn't even decided if it was a good idea or not. "She can't keep going much longer. We hurt her badly last time. If we had a back up team, we might have even made it."

"Seclusion has messed with your head." Tavros decides, looking at you with those brown eyes and you sigh.

"No more than it has yours." You retort and glance up when you hear one of the kids grumble in their sleep. "We're going to be moving via daylight. They can't travel as fast as I can, or you can. You also know the forest a lot better than I do. We're meeting night of the new moon. Will you be there with us?"

"Possibly?" Tavros says, scratching the side of his head thoughtfully. "I'll talk to my matesprit about it..."

"You and Aradia?" You guess.

"Yeah, she's pale with Sollux, who's pale with Feferi, who's red with Nepeta, who's pale with Equius, who's black with Aradia." Tavros explains and you stare at him.

"I'm sorry, you have...maybe seven trolls in the whole area and you managed....to do what exactly?" You ask, impressed by the rattled off chart. Tavros shrugs and you see his wings shimmer. You remember them having grown in before you took the fight to the Condesce. You wonder if that had given him a confidence boost as well.

"Well, I'm flushed with Aradia. Aradia is pale with Sollux and black with Equius, but her flushed quadrant is vacant. And Sollux is pale with Feferi, and last I heard black with Nepeta. Though, she switches between me and him. Last I checked, she was being a nuisance to Sollux. I'm pretty sure she stopped flipping and settled with Sollux actually, now that I think about it. I'm happy for them. Nepeta is pale with Equius, obviously-" Tavros glances up when a voice cuts him off.

"You can't just list ships like that Tavros! You say it all so linear and purring." A voice says and you glance up to the tree above you. You see a troll in a green jacket and wonder how long she had been sitting there. "Mr Ampurra, what a pawleasant supurrise!"

"Oh, she who destroyed one of my souls, wearable though it still is." You say with a nod to Nepeta, listening to her giggle. You remember the accident of your flushed romance and how quickly it had fallen apart. You didn't actually want to think about it.

"Okay, do you...uhh want to give him the lowdown on the forest ships?" Tavros asks, glancing over at Nepeta as she sits down near the fire.

"Vurry well," Nepeta grins, grabbing a stick and clearing up some dirt. She began to draw and you groan. You're tired and you didn't actually want to deal with a whole lot of trolls until you figured something out. You glance at the growing chart and shoot a glare at Tavros, enduring the break down to get something akin to the below listed:

Aradia <3< Equius Sollux <3< Nepeta Feferi <3< No one  
Aradia <3 Tavros Sollux <3 No one :(( Feferi <3 Nepeta  
Aradia <> Sollux Sollux <> Feferi Feferi <> Sollux

Equius <3< Aradia Nepeta <3< Sollux Tavros <3< No one  
Equius <3 No one Nepeta <3 Feferi Tavros <3 Aradia  
Equius <> Nepeta Nepeta <> Equius Tavros <> No one

"You know I didn't need the shipping break down." You say, looking over the list once again now that Nepeta wasn't talking as she drew. You notice the absence of any mention of Vriska, Terezi, yourself, and Kanaya. The pain in your heart surprised you and you wonder if you could have lived so closely to Feferi after the last argument you had gotten into. You shake your head, looking up at the rogue of heart, studying her thoughtfully.

"Evurryone always needs a shipping burreak down." Nepeta grins and sticks her tongue out at you. You offer her a chuckle, gesturing at the frowny face next to Sollux's flushed quadrant.

"Why no double frowns for anyone else?" You ask, curious.

"Because I like picking on Pollux." Nepeta says, wiping away the frowny face and glancing at you. "Fur a while, I thought you and he were going to switch black, but then you left. So, I took the chance as I saw fit."

"I'm glad you're leaving me alone." Tavros decides.

"I should probably return to the den soon." Nepeta glances at Tavros, meeting his gaze. "I look forward to seeing you at the new moon meeting,"

"I'm not-" he tries to respond but Nepeta is already gone. You watch her leave, turning to look at the troll.

"So, you in or not?" You ask.

"Maybe," he says after a moment. "I'll have to think on it. Be careful going through the woods and make sure the humans don't kill anything, okay?" He asks.

"I can do that," you say and watch him take to the air, letting out a low whistle. You were almost jealous for his wings. You move to stand, stirring the fire and jump when you see Dirk standing outside your spare tent. "Can I hunt, if I keep it to every couple of days? We didn't actually bring enough food, due to someone trackin Crocker down."

"Sure, but don't over hunt. I don't think you will, but keep to small game." Tavros calls down before disappearing.

"Those were friends?" Dirk asks and you nod. "They seem...."

"Not the best for fightin an insane, old as fuck troll?" You ask and return Dirk's grin that he gives you at the comment. "Don't let looks fool you. I've seen Nepeta take down beasts bigger than her just for food. People let looks be the indicator and then they get a punch in the face. Go back to bed, you won't be able to keep up in the morning if you stay up."

"I can go and keep going. Bro taught me that at least." Dirk says and sits next to you. You see him glance at the shipping chart and wipe it away before he gets a good look at it. You don't want to have to rehash another shipping chart that night. "I want to hear more about you and what it was like when you first fought her."

"I'm not gonna to tell you just to have to repeat myself in the mornin." You decide, offering Dirk your coat when you see him shivering. They weren't prepared for autumn in the woods and you had to hope that the others might have extra clothes. Or you could run back into town...

"Earth to Ampora," Dirk says, waving a hand in front of your face.

"What?" You ask, staring at him.

"We want revenge for the family that was killed. We aren't going to let little things like human limitations hold us back. We have power, just like you do. We're going to end this." He says and you nod, unsure if you believe him or not. You think back to the resolve you had earlier and wonder if it was even a smart thing in the first place.

"Well, fine, the least you can do is keep watch. I'm gonna to try and catch some rest." You decide, getting up and taking the solar garment over to a patch of woods. You see Dirk nod at you and you curl up, your back against a tree and try to get some rest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> None of the troll ships intersect with my ships from Rising From The Ashes other than Equius/Nepeta pale. That is astounding to me.
> 
> This fanfic was originally an excuse to write EriDirk. And it ended up being a full fanfic, who knows when it will end. Or how(actually, you can probably guess how).
> 
> Let me know what you think in the comments.
> 
> Sorry if the update schedule gets screwy as I work on a farm and sometimes have no time to write, and sometimes have a lot of time to write, like yesterday. But I will at least not flood you with chapters.


	3. Matters of Past

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These dreams are recurring and will be referenced later. My thoughts are that most of the trolls have PTSD from fighting. Most of them have a support system. And the ones that it would pop up in the worst don't have that support system or are dead. Having been raised on Earth and left there past "adulthood", they are not as used to fighting.
> 
> This is a shorter chapter, enjoy!

_You open your eyes, listening to the others sleeping around you. Several of them have been crammed into your small two bedroom condo, others coming and going when they had the chance. When you had meetings with everyone in attendance, things got hectic and you were left to clean up the mess by yourself. If you were lucky, Kanaya would be willing to help as well._

_By human standards, you are nineteen years old. You take a breath, getting off the couch and making the way to the kitchen. The condo, by all human standards, is owned and paid for by you. You are the only troll in the group that has a permanent hive. It was central to where most of your planning was done, and the condo had been destroyed._

_The thought threw you off. It couldn't have been destroyed if you were standing in it. You move forward, looking through your kitchen cabinets and finding the coffee beans that you wanted. The instant coffee would be brought out towards dawn, for those that had to work through the day to plan. No use in wasting your good stuff on anyone but those who got up early enough to want it._

_You start the coffee, letting out a yawn and twitching the heavy duty curtain out of the way. The light of a setting sun catches you off guard and you drop the curtain back into place._

_"Sup?"_

_You turn, a curse on your lips as you see Dave slouched in the doorway. You stand up straight, running a hand down your shirt to straighten it. "Makin coffee, want any?" You ask. Normally you didn't offer the coffee to others, since it was too expensive to constantly be passing out. You were happy to drink the whole pot of coffee on your own._

_"You seem tense." Dave comments, walking into the kitchen and glancing around. "Too many people in your hive? And sure, that's the good shit, right?"_

_"Yeah, it is. And somethin like that," you say with a shrug. "It's, at most, a three person or two troll apartment, not cramming as many trolls and humans as possible in the confines." Your hand twitches when you hear something clatter in a room, though it sounded more like something shattering if you cared to think about it. So much of your shit had gone missing or been broken, you can't be bothered to be angry at whatever just happened._

_"We have a week before we meet up with the others. Think you can handle having seven more house guests for the next week?" Dave asks._

_"Not counting yourself Strider?" You ask, raising an eyebrow. You had eight houseguests, if you added Strider and didn't include yourself._

_"I was actually going to visit my bro, check on him. I own an entire apartment building, so he lives on his own. I worry that... Heh, I worry that I won't come back from the fight. I want to spend more time with him while I have the chance." Dave shrugs. "I already let Karkat know so he wouldn't be flipping out about me being missing on top of everything else."_

_"Right..." There are more words, more conversations but it's lost as everything shifts, changing and you know you're trapped in your own dreams once more. It had been a nearly constant thing when you first went on the run. Lately, it had been nearly nonexistent. You were happy if it didn't come back at all._

_It's month laters and you're yelling, trying to catch _something's_ attention and you have your gun raised. Your hands are shaking. Your group has been fighting nearly nonstop for the past several hours. Sweat is dripping down the back of your neck and you lift your gun once more after realizing it had slipped from position. You nearly spin when you feel a hand on your shoulder._

_You turn at the same time, meeting a pair of shades as Dave raises his hands in the typical 'I'm not a threat' position, palms out. "That was the last of them," he says and you back drop to the wall. You slide down, landing on your ass with a shaky laugh. You hadn't seen any of the other trolls for awhile now and you feel like you could take a breather._

_"You okay?"_

_"Yeah, I mean... I'll be okay," you say after a moment, watching Dave drop next to you. You see him grimace, cleaning off the blade of his weapon carefully, tucking the dirtied cloth into his sylladex._

_"I don't like the fighting," Dave says suddenly. "I can almost picture the trolls as something else. The odd coloring of blood helps as well, I guess. It's just... People say they want to be heros, they want to be in this glorious fight to the death, but fucking look at us." He gestures between you and him and you understand what he means. "We're barely twenty. I mean, Rose and I have our careers, but we're off fighting to the death to try and help the humans out just a bit. And if we do manage to do this, I don't think we could ever tell anyone. They would laugh and say it was a natural troll succession thing. But, all of this death is all very... I don't want to die here, I don't want to die a hero, or be a hero. I want to be a kid, hang out with my younger bro. Actually help raise him, give him better teenage years. But I can't do that with the Condesce looming, working on destroying what's left of Earth. I get that you were raised here, but trolls... What she's doing isn't...." Dave runs a hand through his hair, grunting when he can't figure out the words that he wants to use before ending with a simple, "ya know?"_

_"We're all fightin for a better peace," you say idly. "Fef will be a good empress. And, if things go accordin to plan, you can go back to makin your movies and hanging out with your bro. He's what, thirteen now?"_

_"Yeah, thirteen." Dave says with a nod. "Do you think we're in over our heads?"_

_"Are you askin as a friend or...?" You hesitate, watching Dave. "I know humans don't have the same concepts that we do with the quadrants. But this is starting to stray into the kinda talk that stays in the pale quadrant and-"_

_"Sure," Dave says, interrupting you. He shoved his shades up, letting you see his eyes. "I think humans can even have and benefit from a bit of troll romance. Maybe not the kismesis aspect. At least not the violent, but I can see the idea of having a moirail. Humans are off their rockers sometimes, losing their shit all over the place. Having a moirail would make sense. We can discuss the details afterwards, but that is something I'm offering."_

_"Yeah, I think we're in over our heads." You say after a moment, finding your heart thumping faster. "Details can be discussed later, that sounds good. We need to move on soon. We meet up with Kar and the rest in the next hallway. I find the killin to be pointless, and hard to process. Even with being a seadweller, I didn't really feed into the whole genocide shit I spew. Just...tryin to fit in and not get culled. Being a kid, ya know?"_

_"Yeah, I can see through your bullshit. We're all just scared kids. No need to let others know that we're all just scared kids pretending to be adults." Dave agrees and you relax, getting up from the floor._

_"So, you and Kar are dating?" You ask. Not the best of topics for such a time, but you need to keep your mind away from the blood splatters or you may end up throwing up. The taste of last night's dinner lingers in the back of your throat. You get up, hoping the motions will help you push away the lingering nauseous feeling._

_Dave sighs, getting up and you both make your way to the next room. You hear a piercing screech and Dave whirls, blade drawn high before there is laughter._

__"You trout you can glubbing take me? Come at me beaches! The door is open, nothfin lurks between us heirshrimp."_ _

_You suck in a breath as the announcement ends, picking up speed to keep up with Dave. You meet the others in an adjoining hallway, watching Feferi flit between several groups to make sure everyone was okay. Dave stands next to his friends, the humans looking at the trolls cautiously. Rose stands next to Kanaya, John and Jade talking in low voices about the plan for the next stage._

_"Where's Vriska?" Karkat asks, counting the trolls over. "Damn it,"_

_"Probably took the offer," Terezi groans, pressing a hand to her face._

_"Offer?" Feferi asks, turning to look at the blind girl. "What offer?"_

_"If we joined the Condesce, we would be offered a position in the empire." You say, gritting your teeth. You had run through the troll that offered you that offer with one of Dave's spare swords. You tighten your grip on the gun at your side, taking a deep breath and letting it out through your gills._

_"Fighting against us then," Karkat groans and you see Feferi hesitate._

_"Think she'll shell us out?" The heiress asks and you see Sollux shake his head._

_"If she's knows what's good for her, she'll play dumb. But, we'll keep an eye on it. She's coming up soon, the Condesce. The voices of the soon to be dead are getting louder, but also softer. It's hard to stay what will happen...." Sollux hesitates, looking around. "It seems like we're all here,"_

_"It'll be okay Sollux," Feferi promises, taking his hand._

_"We ready?" Sollux asks, returning Feferi's pressure and you know he's asking just Feferi if she was ready. She nods and the group strikes forward. It's quiet this deep in the castle. You know it's the seat of power on Earth. You know Condesce was here because the humans were being stubborn. Even now, trapped in the motions, you can feel eyes on you. You still wonder if you would have taken the offer if you thought it would have saved them._

_"We go humans than us, like planned." Karkat says. You see the humans ghost forward. Jade saying something as wind pushes the words away. Then the screaming begins then and it's always different, depending. You never saw who died first, Jade or John. So your brain switches it up. The screaming is always the same. You see Jade stopping, mouth still open before her body collapses like the strings have been cut. You hear someone rush forward and then see blood splatter across the floor as John moves. And all hell breaks lose._

_The trolls move as one, and you watch as they lunge forward. No neat lines now, nothing to do but sit and wayit. You see several others move and you feel Dave's hand touch your shoulder. You see the Condesce standing, her hair moving as if on its own before you're yelling out. You see something move, see Rose's wands flash blasts of light and you hear her words, "FALL BACK!" and the other word, "TRAP" before you watch the others attack._

_It was always going to be a trap, that's what the angels are whispering to you now. There would be no sense in letting you this close to the Condesce. But you weakened her. They whisper back and forth, and you feel like if you could have ended the whole thing if your angels just let you move._

_You're exhausted, everything hurts and you see Rose fall, Kanaya discarding her weapon and kneeling next to Rose. You're firing your own gun, several marks hitting and you see her eyes on you. She recognizes Dualscar's weapon. Everything is muffled as your team moves back, you're almost to the door. She's bleeding fuschia all over the place._

_It happens, the time slows and you see Dave flash step forward, sword aimed for the Condesce's neck. You see the blade hit then you hear a squelching noise, and see Dave's crushed body on the floor. You see Gamzee and Karkat moving. The bard is flashing, Karkat is screaming and you try to make out what is happening, but you feel a hand tug on your wrist and you're moving. The door slams shut, but not fast enough to see the bodies of Karkat and Gamzee being ripped apart by the Condesce, their blood washing the floor._

_The condesce is gasping, a hand on her throat and she meets your gaze before you find darkness. You let it take you, sinking down into the sweep embrace._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You'll see references to Pale EriDave. That was a thing. I have a lot of weird ships that will more or less look like I just threw darts at a dart board and went with whatever ones landed. Any questions, don't hesitate to ask!


	4. The Meeting Place

You open your eyes, pulling the hood of the garment quickly over your head when you realize the time. You're on the second week of travelling through the forest. When you had closed your eyes several hours before, Dirk had been up, staring into the ashes of the fire as if looking for an answer. You stand up from your sleeping spot, stretching out and cracking your back. You look around the area, checking for signs before glancing at the fire once more. You can see Dirk still standing there unmoving and watching the dying fire as you finish adjusting the solar garment. You walk over, chuckling in amusement when his head snap towards you.

"Did you get any sleep?" You ask, glancing over your shoulder. You had seen Tavros following you several more times since you have been traveling through his forest, but he hadn't come out to actually speak to you. You shrug the thought away, having decided that it wouldn't be worth it to try and catch his attention in order to just talk. You weren't sure if you actually wanted to talk to him anyway.

"No," Dirk says and glances at you before staring back into the fire. "Did you know that you talk in your sleep?"

"Yeah, I guess it's been mentioned a couple of times." You shrug, recalling when Dave had said those same words to you. "Find out anythin interestin about me that I should know you know? I do have many deep, dark secrets that I keep hidden."

"You don't want to kill anyone," Dirk says and turns to look at you.

"Look kid, there are things I've done that I detest. Killin is at the top of the list." You grit your teeth, wondering if they would grind down to stubs before the event was over. You don't think you could face the others. You had never told them how much you detested the act of killing anyone anyway.

"Why are you fighting if you don't want to kill anyone?" Dirk asks and you look at him, taking in the small details. You turn that question over and over in your mind, unsure of how to answer before you finally shrug, not finding an answer that would satisfy anyone.

"Why does anyone fight?" You shoot back. "Why were trolls bred to be killin machines, then have an entire romantic quadrant shoved in our faces regarding keeping each other calm? Yeah, there is more to it then that, no I am not gettin into it." You hold up a hand, looking at Dirk with a hard stare.

You turn when you hear the leaves rustle, your breathing becoming strained as you search for the cause of it. The other three kids are still asleep, and you knew they were sometimes a mess to get up in the mornings, so you weren't worrying about them listening in. You take a step away from Dirk, looking around in the predawn light and jumping when you hear someone cackle.

"I would have never thought that Eridan Ampora of all trolls would turn into a true pacifist!"

"I think," you say slowly, closing your eyes and taking a breath, "That we may have fried troll on the menu for this mornin's breakfast. How does that sound? I hear different blood colors cook differently too."

"Oh, don't throw the human a bone like that Ampora," the same voice says and you hear two sets of footsteps. You turn, looking at the speakers, both wearing the hoods of their solar garments down.

"Serket, Pyrope," you say, gaze flicking between the both of them. Vriska had her hands on her hips, Terezi stopping to put her weight on her cane as if she were deep in thought. Her hair had grown out, though her glasses still perched on her nose. Both had grown taller in the intervening years since you had seen them. "Nice a you to join us."

"What happened to our trigger happy Prince of Hope?" Vriska asks and you hear the click of a blade as Dirk draws his weapon. You shake your head, glancing between the both of them.

"Not worth it," you say simply. "See, I'm not even armed Serket." You hold up your hands, showing her that they're empty.

She scoffs, looking you over with a hard stare. "Unless you're hiding a gun under your garment, I suppose you aren't. How sad... I heard that you died after I deflected. Never got confirmation though... I guess they were wrong."

"I heard I died too," Terezi grins, revealing a mouth full of sharp teeth. "The Condesce wanted all of our heads, but it seems like she couldn't manage to swat the flies out of the air after all. So, who's the kid?" She takes a step towards Strider and you wave a hand, seeing how tense he was out of the corner of your eye.

"We're meeting up at the new moon with the others. Then we have to discuss on how to get Kan out of the brooding caverns." You say, ignoring the look of shock on Vriska's face.

"It can't be done," she says after a moment, letting your statement process.

"Sure it can, if you put enough fire power into it." You protest, but you understand her concern.

"I've tried Eridan. I don't think you can break anyone out of the brooding caverns, unless they want to leave as well. It's a maze down there. And I don't know if Kanaya has the will to go on." Vriska says with a frown.

"There has been maps made." Terezi says after a moment. "If you can find a black market willing to sell you one... What's the idea Ampora?"

"We need the Sylph of Space," you shrug. "The destruction done will need to be fixed. Don't...don't ask." You add, seeing Vriska's eyes light up.

It's quiet for several minutes before Terezi speaks up.

"Did you know that Alternia is a waste land?" Terezi inquired, leaning forward on her cane. "The reason the Condesce is holding so close to this colony. Feferi won't have anything left to go back to, if she still wants to return to Alternia."

"We weren't even raised on Alternia," you say, voice flat. "You don't go back somewhere you've never been."

"There might be a way-" Vriska frowns, glancing between you and Terezi. "We can discuss it later." She decides, her shoulders dropping. You make your way to the tents, Dirk already getting the other humans up. You take down the emptied tent, storing it away before you move to the other, Dirk putting out the rest of the fire.

"You've seen the winged dork flying around?" Vriska asks and you glance at her. She's tugging her hood up, her eyes shaded as Terezi follows her motions, letting the mesh cover their faces. You adjust your own hood, keeping your scarf clear from your mouth.

"I've seen him a couple a times, but he doesn't stay to chat. I think he's watching our progress. When I did talk to him, he was still tryin to decide if he would join us or not. But, our next step would be gettin Kanaya out of the caverns anyway. He still has time to decide." You say, watching the humans eat, the other three watching you and the two new trolls with a wary eye. "Vriska, Terezi, these are Jane, Jake, Roxy, and Dirk. They're the relatives of the humans that fought with us before."

You point out each one as you say the names, realizing the kids wouldn't be able to tell the difference between Terezi and Vriska in their solar garments.

"Well, isn't this a lovely reunion." Vriska says, turning her eyes to the kids. She moved one arm out of the solar garments, letting the metal arm gleam. "Vriska Serket, pirate, at your service."

"Terezi Pyrope, lawyer," the other said, smacking Vriska's hand down. "Well, I will be when I'm not hiding on a ship. Ships suck,"

"Excuse me! Ships are amazing!" Vriska said, turning to glare at Terezi. "They are the best place we could be. The oceans are an amazing place, untouched by humans!"

"We should get a move on," You grunt before Vriska could get on a roll. "There is a bit of time until we need to be at the meeting place, but I want ta make sure everythin is fine."

"I'll just steal the luck of whoever is there." Vriska says with a shrug. "You've turned into an old troll Eridan. Where's your sense of adventure? What happened to being all gung ho about fighting at the like? You're boring now."

"Better safe than sorry." You grumble. You glance at the kids, all of them finishing up their food and nodding that they're ready. You take a breath, turning an eye to Vriska. "Speaking of, there's no chance you'll betray us again?"

"No," Vriska says with a wave of her hand. "In fact, I even brought along some important information for Feferi. There's no way that whatever the Condesce offers would be better than seeing her taken down. I'm sad Eridan that you don't think a girl like me can change."

You eye her but merely snort, deciding that she hadn't turned in Feferi or any of the rest of you when she did deflect. You begin to walk, seeing the kids take up a loose formation as the trolls stride along next to you. "What made you want to deflect in the first place? We could have culled her then."

When you say this, you realize that you have fallen into the old troll speak, the kids unable to understand anything you're saying. You make note of that, but decide that you would continue talking about it with them unable to hear. There are some things that you think they are too young to hear.

"More of us would have ended up dying, strangely enough." Terezi says as you walked. "If Vriska hadn't deflected and had tried to steal the Condesce's luck. With the powers the Condesce had from the other trolls, we would have had that turned against us. She was distracted when she heard that we had a similar set of powers that her previous friends...I suppose group would be a better word, had. But there was no use in letting you all in on the plan. It was Feferi's idea in the first place."

"Geez, you make it sound like Feferi told me to deflect." Vriska sniffs and you see Dirk glance at them, raising an eyebrow. You wonder if he knew any of the troll speak. "Ampora, I probably would have done it even if it wasn't worth it. Aren't you glad I did though?"

"No," you decide. You shift, pulling your scarf over your mouth through the mesh of the hood and continued to walk half remembered trails. This was the place you had hid before you went to make a strike against the empress. The idea makes you want to laugh. You had been so young then. You hear Terezi talking with Jane and Jake, Vriska taking an interest to Roxy. You feel a hand on your shoulder, stopping when you realized that you were alone, the others having fallen behind other than-

"Strider?" You frown, peering into the early morning light. The hand moves away and you turn towards it, eyes scanning the area. You move off the path, trusting Pyrope at least to keep the others on track. You follow the faint sounds of footsteps, sure that you had seen-

"Sup?"

You spin, raising your gun up and stare at the figure standing before you, a smirk on his face, shades covering his eyes.

"Strider," you breathe, unable to see your eyes.

"Yeah?" He asks, tipping his head to the side.

"You're dead," you say, staring down at the shades. You had heard him die. But you hadn't seen the bodies. No one had seen the bodies, except Kanaya and you hadn't spoken to her in years.

"We never got the chance to talk," Dave says and there is something wrong with his voice.

"Because you died," you say and walk forward, gun raised.

"I'm here now Eridan." The figure moved forward and you feel a hand on your wrist, pushing your gun down. "I know you don't want to fight. Why are you heading back now? You didn't need them then. They didn't try to talk to you afterwards. They didn't check up on you. You were all alone, weren't you?"

"No," you say, raising your gun up as much as you can. There is pressure keeping it down and you look into the figure before you. You see his mouth twitch and you see him step forward again, his hand trailing up the gun. You see him step forward once more before you fire your gun, the tip at his chest.

You stumble backwards as the body hits the ground, the illusion fading and a dead troll looking upwards. You curse, not recognizing the horns before you hear shouts, your eyes unfocused as you keep moving backwards, back hitting the tree and sliding down as you feel your vision dim.

"Eridan?"

You feel a hand on your shoulder and you open your eyes, looking into orange eyes.

"What the fuck happened?" That sounded like Vriska's voice and you want to sink into the ground.

"There's a dead troll with a gun wound. It's from Eridan's gun." Jane says and you close your eyes before gently pushing Dirk's hand off your shoulder to stand up.

"Thought I saw somethin, found that troll." You say after a moment, collecting Ahab's Crosshairs and placing it on your back. Easy to reach, out of view completely. "He's not one of our trolls," you say after a moment.

"No shit," Vriska says and glances at you. "I thought you didn't have a weapon?"

"So, I lied. What's the point of telling someone I can't trust everythin I have on me?" You demand, feeling fingers curl into your shoulder. You turn to level a glare at Dirk, the teenager cocking an eyebrow, barely visible over his shades. He let go of your shoulder, Jane watching you with a worried expression.

"We'll be in the meeting place in a couple more hours. We can take a break if you need on Eridan." Roxy says, sliding over to him. "You look pretty twitchy."

"I wouldn't stand too close to him. If he's that twitchy, there's no saying who he'll shoot next." Vriska warns and you see Terezi punch her non metal arm.

"I won't do somethin stupid," you say and glance at the four kids. You adjust your solar garment, making sure the hood is completely covering your face before you step out of the shadows and back onto the path. You wave for Vriska to take the lead, lagging near the back of the group. Dirk drops his pace to match yours, glancing up towards the others.

"What was that?" He asks.

"I don't know what you mean," you say, refusing to look at Dirk.

"I heard you say Strider," Dirk says. "Then you bolted into the forest... What did you see?"

"I don't want to talk 'bout it Strider." You say, keeping your eyes forward. "Other than... Hey Vris!"

You see her turn and look at you, her head tipping to the side. "What's up Eridan?" She asks.

"Has the empire been working on any cloakin devices?" You ask, glancing towards the sound of a cracking twig. You see Jake glance at you, offering you a small grimace in apologizes.

"The only one I can think of... They need a sample of whoever's image they're projecting on themselves in order for it to work. And that person has to be alive. They haven't gotten very far with it yet though." Vriska says, her hands on her hips. "Why do you ask?"

"The troll I killed looked, very briefly, like someone I knew." You say, unable to tell them it looked like Dave. You weren't willing to answer the questions.

"We'll make note of it," Terezi says, taking a step closer and taking a sniff.

"Come on," you say, walking faster. You don't want to be in the day lit forest anymore.

It takes three more hours but you're finally at the entrance to what you have been looking for. The kids look at each other as you tap your hand on the tree, listening to the hollow sound. You knock three times more, stepping to the side and watching the tree open. You gesture for the others to enter, watching Terezi go down first, then Vriska, then the kids one by one.

Dirk moves towards it, eyeing it warily. "Is that safe?" He asks, pointing at the door that opened in the tree.

"It should be," you say and he slips in, sliding down the slide. You follow, hearing the bark door close behind you. You grunt when you stumble at the end, running into Dirk and nearly smacking a horn on the ceiling when you stood.

"It's like some Peter Pan crap down here." Dirk comments, and you nod, turning around slowly when you hear movement.

"Be on your guard, don't do anything rash." You say, pulling down your hood and scarf. "Eridan Ampora, here with Jane Crocker, Dirk Strider, Roxy Lalonde, Jake English, Vriska Serket, and Terezi Pyrope. We will be proceedin to the meetin place, where you can see who we are."

"Who are you...?" Jake looked around, yelping when he felt a small sting of something on his cheek. You turn, seeing Sollux doubled over laughing.

"Captor," you say with a nod. "Good to see you in one piece."

"ED, I thought you had died." Sollux says, looking you up and down. "FF didn't say you were alive until she told us that you were going to be coming by with some humans."

"No? Well, I'm okay with that." You say, recalling that you had fled right after the final battle. Feferi had seen you leave, and you had reached out to Terezi at some point. But otherwise, you had kept as low a profile as possible. "You going to take us to Fef?"

"Yeah, follow me." Sollux says and beckons for everyone to follow. You do so, watching the base of the tree fade, the ground turning into caves. You take in a breath as you see crystals in walls, amazed at how they had been living. You pause when you reach elegantly carved doors. Sollux moves his hands lazily, opening the door.

Sitting across the the hall, you see Feferi Peixes sitting on a wooden throne, back straight, and her eyes snap to yours.

"Eridan!"

And everything goes dark when you see her eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope this chapter makes sense to you.
> 
> Imagine two weeks of listening to Jake go, "what's going on, what's this, what's that..." And Jane wanting to cook, Roxy just being happy to be with friends, Dirk sort of going, "is this troll okay? He doesn't feel okay. His soul feels like its shattered". And Eridan smacking himself for agreeing to take them.


	5. Witch of Life

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy the cryptic nonsense.
> 
> I don't even know what's going on with the story. It has gotten out of control. My days off are the next two though, so be prepared for updates, if I'm not completely nonfunctional those two days.

_You sit on the throne, looking blindly out at the cavern. Duty holds you in place, but you don't know if you can handle the duty of being enthroned to an entire empire. You feel the ebb and flow of life around you, each small creature holding thousands of sweeps of knowledge within their very DNA and core. Every once in a great while are you pulled from your state, brought out of it by a handful of trusted people._

_They know how to do this without destroying your own essence in the process._

_You look up when you feel the newcomers. You watch the flow of their life. Time is slowed to the fragments you focus on. You smile, your unseeing eyes finding a friend you had missed dearly. You see Sollux to the side of _him_ and you call out his name, the one that you missed oh so dearly. Everything felt cold and hollow when he left._

_It's a soft call, full of life. You see him look up, see him open his mouth, and your eyeless holes meet his. You smile a fangy smile. Who needs eyes when you can see the signs of someone's life? They had been discarded shortly after your fight with your ancestor. You had broken your troll mask to become your aspect, your class. There would be no going back. You know there is another you somewhere, floating in the back of your conscious. She is you, as you are her._

_You watch as the troll-funny, though you just had it, you you can no longer remember his name anymore, collapse, his life ebbing out. You move your hand in a small fraction of a second, realizing you had tried to seal his life before you push it gently back in, letting him live. You are a witch, you create. You hear the cries of angels, and in your sightless gaze you can see the swirl of his angels surround him, chiding him. You move to stand, but feel a hand on your wrist and you fall inwards, back in on yourself._

You have eyes once more, normal troll eyes despite the limited vision they offer. When you return to yourself, you see Eridan, some humans that look too similar to your previous human friends, and Sollux to the side, hand on your wrist. You turn to look at him, blinking as you get used the the mask once more.

"If we are going to take down the empress, you have to remember to not do that kind of thing when you know we will be having guests." Sollux says and he sounds strained. You frown at him, glancing at the humans and the now unconscious seadweller. You hadn't meant to cause anyone any pain, despite it having happened.

"I'm sorry, I'll spend more time here," you say with a frown at Sollux. You wonder if the stress of being pale with two trolls was almost too much. Though you know that him being in your pale quadrant was more of a, 'the only one that could handle you' as he was a Mage of Doom. You bite your lip, deciding that you would talk to him about it next chance you got. It wasn't fair to place him in such a bind afterall.

"So... Is Eridan gonna be okay?" The blonde haired girl asks, nudging the troll with her foot. "Cause, like, I don't want our friend to have passed on to the void because of this."

"He's still alive," the blond haired male says, pulling a hand away from Eridan's neck. You hadn't even seen him move. You would have to keep a closer eye on him.

"Oh no! He'll be fine, his life is still there." you say, bounding from your chair. You feel sweeps younger when you're away from it. You glance back, and see a ghost of your witch self sitting on it, hands curled on the arm rests with eyeless holes staring into the distance. You blink, watching the image waver and fade. "I'm shore of it!" You say, turning back to the humans.

"So..." The black haired man looks at you and you raise an eyebrow. "You're a life aspect, yes?" He asks and you nod with a grin.

"Witch of Life, Feferi Peixes, heiress, soon to be empress." You say with a grin. Over the years, you had weeded out your fish puns. On occasion, you would still use them. But the power to see had been more fascinating than keeping up with a child's gambit. You wanted nothing similar to your ancestor when the time came to face her once more.

"What will you do when you become empress?" The blond haired man asks, still kneeling by Eridan, he has one foot under him, his body tense. You recall how Dave had often moved without seeming to move, taking seconds where it should have taken minutes. But his life essence did not feel like it had to do with time. Curious, it was to you.

"I want to unite the races. I want the trolls to understand that they can be peaceful living with humans. Beyond that, I am merely going to watch. Make sure that trolls don't become violent. Restart my race, give it a new life. Our home is dead, but we can find a new place to live." You tilt your head to better study Dirk. "And who are you?"

"Dirk Strider," he says, his eyes hidden behind impressively pointed shades.

"That's a name, but who are you?" You ask and watch the confusion cross what you could see.

"She means what's your class and aspect. What makes you you. What's your power," Sollux offers and you shoot him a soft glare. You didn't want him to spoil the game, but you suppose it would make this easier if you were clear in your questions. Not everyone could handle the cryptic questions tossed their way. You had hoped more from the Strider family though.

"Prince of Heart," he says and you nod.

"And you?" You ask, turning your gaze to Roxy. She was a blank slate, even with your other face on. You couldn't pin her down and she reminded you of Equius. Nothing there, nothing to hold on to.

"Roxy Lalonde, Rogue of Void," she says with a nod, lips pursed tightly into a line.

"Ah! Another void, that explains the emptiness radiating about you!" You say with a clap of your hands and a giggle. "We have an Heir of Void that you will be meeting soon. He has quite a strong opinion on several elements that we practice here. He's a big softy once you get to know him."

"He has a sweat problem, don't get too close to him. He smells bad on good days, and worse on hot days." Sollux advises and you roll your eyes, pointing a finger at Jake.

"And you?" You ask happily.

"Page of Hope, Jake English. Adventurer, pleased to meet you Miss Heiress." Jake says and you could imagine him twirling a mustache if he had one. You laugh at the thought, Jake giving you a startled glance.

You shake your head, turning your attention to the most interesting member of the group-for you. "And you?" You ask the young black haired woman with a smile.

"Jane Crocker, Maid of Life." She says, and you hear in her tone the same notes that you heard in John's voice.

"What a fascinating group," you say and look back down at Eridan, who was still unconscious. You frown before a thought forms. "Jane, would you mind just...lightly touching Eridan? On the shoulder, with a bit of your power would be more than enough."

Jane glances at you but steps up next to Dirk. She looks awkward as she leans down, touching Eridan's shoulder and you feel more than see the surge of power. Maybe a bit too much after what had just happened. But you push the thought away, deciding it wouldn't really matter after all. You see him jolt and he's standing and backing into a corner, a gun in his shaking hands.

"What the hell?" He asks and you grin at him, all teeth.

"You had a shock of life to get you from the unconscious state." You say, moving closer to him and keeping any sort of power away from you. You don't want to knock him out again. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I was drug through the mud." He says and looks at you. "You...actually have eyes."

"Sometimes," you agree. Being fully troll and not letting the power consume you sometimes hurts. Right now, you want to push yourself to the limits, see how far you can force your aspect in all things of life. But you couldn't do that now. You glance up when you hear footsteps, finding the blank gaze of Terezi and Vriska. You hadn't seen them come in, but surely they had come in before Eridan and the humans...? You frown, that was an oversight that you could not have happen again. You must know whenever someone was in your domain. It had kept you safe for all of these years. You couldn't lose that safety net now.

"Okay, we get it," Vriska says in response to something you didn't hear and you see Nepeta behind them, prodding them forward.

"Found them in one of the offshoots. It looks like they decided to wander off." She says and you smile at her. Your dear, precious Nepeta. She would always be close to your heart. You smile at the thought once more, nodding.

"Thank you Nepeta for fetching them." You turn to look at the two trolls, each having already discarded their solar garments. Vriska meets your gaze and flinches away, taking a physical step. You had always pegged her as unmovable. You glance at Terezi in the same way, seeing her flinch but not move backwards. "How have you been? Has your position been treating you well?"

"We've been well," Vriska says, voice tense, hands curled at her side.

"She means we've been stressed keeping the fact that I'm alive away from trolls she works with." Terezi grins and you see Vriska shoot her a glare. "How have you been Feferi?"

"I have learned more about me." You say simply and turn to look at Eridan. "Are we missing anyone?" You ask.

"Tavros, Aradia, and Kanaya." He says blankly and you nod.

"We are connected to the brooding caverns. This section is kept away from the other jade bloods. But, if there is a chance, we can speak with Kanaya. Why do you think we need her?" You ask, keeping your gaze on him.

"The repair of things destroyed. Don't know what exactly, something that the angels had said a long time ago. Things will be okay without the Bard of Rage and the Knight of Blood. But we cannot move forward with the Sylph of Space. It's..." He tries to find the words but you understand what he means.

"We'll find her." You say and let out a sharp whistle. Several things move and you pick up a small animal from the ground. It is not mastery over animals, such as Tavros can do, but it is something that you have worked out with him and the animals. You make several small clicking noises before the mouse nods and you set it down, sending it on its way. You watch it, watching several others follow, the message being passed along as more joined them.

"You sure that's going to work?" Vriska asks. "The brooding caverns are....wait, we're in one of them?" She asks, turning a blank stare to you and you shrug.

"It's a section of the brooding caverns. But the mother grub doesn't come this way, ever. There is too much power lingering from times unknown to humans and trolls alike. This whole cavern system has been here longer than the empress has been in power. It was one of the reasons she chose it at the brooding cavern to begin with. I sectioned off what I could, but there are still places for us to get back and forth if need be. The Jade bloods do not think to come this way either. The air of magic is tainted to them, so they leave us alone. It is quite a nice set up." You say, turning your gaze back to Eridan. You remember a time when you and Eridan had been more to each other. But you had both moved past that onto something better for each of you.

It still hurt to think about what you lost.

Sometimes, you still miss him deep in your soul. The thought frightens you, that you miss him.

"So... Kanaya may be coming back?" Vriska asks and you glance at her, seeing Nepeta perk up at the thought with a grin.

"She probably will," Terezi says with a frown. "That was not a possibility that I saw before this... How strange," she looks at you and you meet her sightless eyes with your own grin. It was nice to surprise Terezi of all people.

"Things change once you have more information." You say and glance towards Nepeta. "Will you take the humans to a place they can rest? They look exhausted." You hear them try to protest but you glance at them, watching.

Nepeta nods and walks over to the humans, sniffing them curiously before talking and beginning to lead them away. There was more protesting, but eventually she convinced them to follow. You look at the trolls, clapping your hands happily.

"Tavros and Aradia will be joining us shortly," you say, looking up at Eridan. "You talking to them has convinced them. At least convinced Aradia, when Tavros returned with his reports. I thank you for that."

"Can I be done now?" Sollux asks and you snap your gaze to him. You had nearly forgotten that he was by your elbow.

"No!" you say with a grin. "Nepeta will be back in a moment and we need to discuss our plans."

"What sort of plans can we discuss without the humans?" Vriska asks, hands on her hips. "They are the reason we're here, right? This isn't just some game we're playing to fuck with them?"

"The kind that involves trolls." You say, voice dropping to quiet. You glance up, looking around the room before waving and leading the others to a small room. Nepeta meets you several minutes later with Equius in tow, shutting the door behind her. You glance up, listening to another door open and seeing Tavros and Aradia drop in.

"We made it!" Aradia says with a grin. "We left early today and thought that we wouldn't, but I made sure we did."

"I feel sick," Tavros says, flopping down on the floor. "Flying through slowed time is not suggested."

"Oh geez, can't keep your stomach inside you?" Vriska asks and Tavros flips her off. You clap your hands, flaring your face fins to get their attention.

"No black flirting children." You say and you hear Eridan groan. "We have things to cover and discuss."

"What's on the list?" Tavros asks, Aradia kneeling next to him. She looks up at you, tipping her head. Hair spills over her face and you want to remind them all that they would live peaceful lives. You would make sure of it.

"Getting Kanaya out; figuring out when to attack; finding out what happened to our dead fronds." You say, listening to the others. You look around, gaze landing on Eridan. "You'll be willing to make our strategy again?"

"I don't know... Last time it didn't-" he begins, taking a step back. You raise an eyebrow, watching him before he sighs, his shoulders slumping and he nods in defeat. "I guess I could, if I had enough information. Vris, do you have any information I could possibly use?"

"Yes," she says, patting a bag. You glance at her, beaming happily.

"I'm glad our plan worked!" You say and she nods absently. "We'll need Roxy to get Kanaya out. The void aspect is wonderfully useful here. We should be receiving a message..."

You pull out your phone, looking down when it pings. You grin, sitting on the floor as Eridan looks between you and the ground. You gesture for the others to sit, Equius glancing down in disdain as he leans against a wall instead. Down in the ancient caverns, he had less that could break. Seeing him happier made you happy. A little lusus to your group of lost trolls, that's how you felt.

\---grimAuxiliatrix began pestering cuddlingCatfish---

GA: I Received Your Message  
GA: I Do Not Believe It Would Be Wisest  
GA: But I Am In  
GA: If It Means Culling The Bitch That Culled My Matesprit  


CC: YAY! 38)  
CC: We will get you out s)(ortly  
CC: You are needed  
CC: And t)(e ot)(ers will be )(APPY to S--EA you!  
CC: I am also glad t)(at you are willing to disregard your duty

GA: As I Said Above  
GA: There Within, I Will Not Repeat  
GA: I Will Do My Best  
GA: And I Will Bring The Grub

CC: I intrust t)(at s)(e is swell?

GA: She Is  
GA: Do You Know Whose Descendent She Would Be?

CC: 38(  
CC: I )(ave an idea  
CC: But I'm not frond of it

GA: Oh?

CC: I will discuss it wit)( you w)(en you get )(ere  
CC: I PROMIS-E it will be S)(ORTLY!  
CC: 38)

GA: How Soon Is Shortly?

\---cuddlingCatfish ceased pestering grimAuxiliatrix---

GA: Feferi, How Soon Is...  
GA: Oh  
GA: Fuck 

You put your phone in your pocket, looking around. "Tomorrow morning, we will talk with the humans. We will make sure that Roxy is good with her void aspects and I think she is-"

"They all have a handle on their class and aspects," Terezi chimes in.

"-and have her sneak in and get Kanaya out. It will have to be quickly." You glance around, meeting Eridan's eyes and nodding at him. "Eridan, I would like to speak with you shortly. But Sollux, may I talk to you first? The rest of you are dismissed."

You wave your hand, seeing Eridan hesitate.

"I'll show you all to caves you can use for rooms!" Nepeta says and pulls away the newcomers. Equius follows, herding them out in the correct way so they would not wander once more. You see them follow her, turning to look at Sollux once the two of you were alone. You can feel the essence of Eridan's life lurking, but you believe he's not close enough to hear you talk to Sollux.

"What's up FF?" Sollux asks, sitting down on the ground.

"I know you have been acting as my morayeel, but it's not healthy for you any longer, is it?" You ask, kneeling down in front of him. "Aradia needs you more."

"That's not-" Sollux says and you take his hand, offering him a smile.

"I appreciate everything that you have done for me Shoallux." You meet his gaze, watching him in worry. "But..."

"I can handle it-" he begins

"Shush," you say, papping his cheek before pulling your hand away. "No, it's not fair for me to continue to ask you to carry my burdens. You are happy with Aradia, and she has been feeling neglected, hasn't she?"

"Yes but-" He tries and you level a stare at him, leaning forward and placing a hand on his cheek, forcing him to meet your gaze. You drop your hand when he pulls away ever so slightly.

"I can fix the pain when you use your powers," you say. "It would be simple... Please?"

"No more headaches?" He asks and you nod back. You had been practicing for a while and you have learned to fine tune your life powers to help him if he agreed. "That's with the psionics," he clarifies.

"Yes, and probably also the doom powers. Will you let me help you?" In the years that he had acted as your moirail, he had never asked for your help. "One time, at least."

"Sure," Sollux says and he bows his head to you. you place your palms on either side, letting out a little hum as you gather the energy and close your eyes. You guide the life through his mind, delicately repairing frayed connections. You feel him squirm, and you pull away, nodding at him. He lifts a hand, a flare of psionics lashing out. He stares in wide eyed wonder before throwing his arms around you.

"How do you feel?" You ask.

"Great," he says with a grin, letting you go and getting up. "Just... I can still be an open ear if you need it FF."

"No, I won't put the pressure on you, but thank you for the offer." You lean in, kissing his forehead and gesturing for him to leave. "Send Eridan in on your way out please?"

He nods and gets up, looking at you once more before heading out of the room. You only have to wait a moment until Eridan comes in, his solar garment discarded and Ahab's Crosshairs plain to see on his back. You nods at you and you meet his gaze.

"Last time we spoke, we weren't on great terms..." He says, voice bitter. "And you didn't want to talk about it then. Will you talk about it now, or will I spend time wonderin what went wrong?"

"I wanted to inform you that my time on the throne will be brief," you say, looking up at Eridan sadly. "Already, there is a new fuchsia grub that Kanaya will be bringing with her. I want to insure that she does not bear the same fate to fight endlessly against the Condesce." You pause, looking at Eridan.

"Do you know...?" Eridan hesitates and you nod.

"It is too soon for another heiress, but I suppose I should have died before I was even eight sweeps. I remember the time in our youth, when you and I would spend time together, talking about the might have beens. Days filled with sweet nothings... I miss those days Eridan. But, if things are to go the way that has been laid out, you need to be a guiding light for the new heiress and empress to be." You say, taking Eridan's hands in yours and looking at him. You're nearly the same height, but he is taller, just by a small fraction if you discount the horns, than you.

"What's the grub's name?" Eridan asks and you look at him, thoughtfully arranging your words before you reply.

"Revati Peixes," you say with a nod. "Revati is a star in the Pisces constellation. Isn't that fascinating?"

"Well, if she's anythin like you, then the empire will have a good troll-wait, did you say that I am going to be a guiding light for her? What the fuck Fef?" He demands, startled by your words. "I don't want anythin to do-I just want-"

"Yes, I did." You say, meeting his gaze stubbornly and cutting him off. "I am going to retreat, and be the witch of life. I don't want a crown. I want peace. I am going to stay on the throne of wood, and let my mind be free. I cannot be bogged down. And thus, I am entrusting you, my ever beloved Prince, to guide the next empress."

"I-" he hesitates and you meet his gaze. "I can't," he says after a moment.

"I know our relationship went south Eridan." You say, keeping your tone steady. The pain was still too much for you to bare. And it was never something you discussed with Sollux. "I am flushed for you, but I know that you cannot return those feelings. I understand that what you feel is black beyond compare. I am happy for the time I got with you." You raise his hands, still inclosed in yours, and kiss them lightly. "Will you do this for me?"

"Heh," Eridan looks at you, and nods, ever so slightly. "In another universe, perhaps it would have gotten better." He shifts, his eyes unreadable as they linger on yours. "So, the grub is...?"

"Probably ours," you say with a shrug. "I never put too much thought into it. But-"

"I'll do it," he says and you let his hands go, clapping and flashing him a smile.

"Thank you," you say and hug him tightly. "Thank you Eridan,"

Eridan nods, awkwardly returning the hug before letting you go. You let him, smiling at him once more before bidding him good day, fleeing from the room and heading to find food.


	6. The Churning Tides

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I couldn't decide if I wanted to call this chapter "turning tides" or "churning tides".

You shift on the uncomfortable bed, bundling one of the blankets under your head as a pillow. You close your eyes, hearing the words Feferi spoke resonating in your mind. It had been two days since you had reached the cavern. In a few more moments, you would be sneaking down with Roxy to retrieve Kanaya and the grub. Though to hear Feferi speak, the grub was more than two sweeps old and Kanaya had been keeping her a secret.

It reminded you of the Dolorosa and the Signless.

The thought makes you sick.

You climb out of bed, pulling on your old clothes and a heavy duty cloak. It's dark and that will help you blend in with the shadows. You head out of the block and through the caves, finding the meeting place. You slump against the wall, closing your eyes to maybe get a couple more minutes of peace. You feel a hand touch your shoulder and you turn.

"Rox," you say with a tip of your head. Your hood is down and you see her smile out of the corner of your eye.

"How'd you know?" She asks.

"No one else would be willin to touch me on the shoulder." You say and you feel her hand remove itself hastily. She had seen you jump at the lightest touch from any of the other trolls. The last time someone touched you, they had been culled shortly after. "I don't mind," you add.

"I've seen how twitchy you are." Roxy shrugs. "I didn't think you had your gun on you though."

You tap your shoulder, feeling the strap of Ahab's Crosshairs. "I don't use a Strife specibus anymore. I just keep it on me. It makes it easier to access. I'm quick with my hands. Years a runnin Rox. If this fails, you realize that's what's goin ta happen ta you all, right?"

"If we lose, I don't plan on being alive to see it." Roxy responds, voice grim.

"That's some dedication you have there." You say, looking at her with a quirked eyebrow. "Ain't there anything you'd rather do than fight?"

"Maybe, but I don't know if it's worth it." She looks at you, offering you a smile. "But, I don't plan on finding out either. We're going to win, no matter what. Are you ready?" She asks and you nod, stomach flipping. You take her hand and everything feels strange as she makes you invisible.

It feels like you're there, but when you look down to where you know your hands are touching, there is nothing but air. And when you look up, you can clearly see Roxy smiling at you.

"Strange," you decide.

"How so?" She asks and you two walk towards the door that is locked on your side.

"I can see you, but not my own hand." You point out. "It's just taking some getting used to is all, I suppose."

Roxy laughs and you open the door as slowly as possible, keeping the noise to a minimum. It's heavy and you strain for just a moment before it goes. You prop it open with a small stone once you and Roxy are through, letting it shut near completely. This side of the cavern feels cooler, and you can hear the soft churr of grubs and maybe even a mother grub heading off to the right of you. You glance backwards, nodding to yourself when you could not discern the entrance to Feferi's caverns.

"They can't hear us," Roxy says after a moment, catching you off guard. You glance at her, raising an eyebrow. "We're not technically on this plane while I'm working with the void. They can't hear us. I can phase through walls as well, shouldn't have to though. Do you know where we're meeting Kanaya?"

"Yeah, this way." You say and nodding to the left path. You look at your palmhusk and look over the directions that you had been given. They confuse you at first but you see Roxy taking them without hesitation. You glance up when you hear a voice, pulling Roxy against the wall.

"I know Mistress Sweetell, I will return to my block shortly." A troll says and you edge forward, relying on Roxy to keep you cloaked. You see a tall jade blood, young with a flowing dress you have a feeling she made by hand, bowing her head to an older jade blood, her green eyes narrowed beneath the mask she wore.

"Maryam, I have seen younger jade bloods than you have more sense of duty." She says. "I understand your....appearance here was most unusual, however-" The troll, Sweetell, begins and you hear Kanaya give a gentle sigh, the kind she reserved for Vriska when she ran out of patience.

"I merely am having troubles sleeping. I am taking a short walk, I will return to my block shortly. There is no way out of the caverns without alerting several of you if I were to try and escape." Kanaya points out and you see her gesture elegantly at the way she had come when she said "block".

"I know your kind," Sweetell grunts. "Have you ever heard of a troll called Dolorosa?"

"I have heard mention of her in reference to the Signless's rebellion. He was smuggled from the caves as a grub by her and she raised him as no troll had raised a grub in our society, before the sweeps of the Summoner's Rebellion, long before we ever left Alternia. I have heard rumor she and I share a sign as well, though it would put into question of which was the participant that forced her into submitting buckets. Would you like to hazard a guess on if it was Dualscar or Mindfang? Both kept her as a slave for some time, before Dualscar had her possibly culled after Mindfang took her. She faded from history's eye and Mindfang became matesprits with the Summoner later." Kanaya says and there is the steel in her voice and you see Sweetell's jaw set.

"How dare you-" She begins.

"I was vastly interested in history when a friend of mine found Mindfang's journal. And.... Oh, they never gave you the explicit reasons behind my being chained down here, did they?" You hear shackles move and you see there are chains on Kanaya's horns, leading down to her wrists. It would make leaving hard for any troll. It makes you wonder how she managed to take care of a grub.

"No," Sweetell says and you see her take a step back as Kanaya moves a step forward and you see her dress shiver but Sweetell is staring at her, gaze unwavering.

"Branded a traitor for fighting the Condesce. She culled my matesprit you know." Kanaya says with a smile. "Now, I am going to continue on my walk. You have a good day Sweetell." She sweeps out of the room, one of her hands going down to the side of her leg. You see Roxy's eyes go wide and the two of you follow her. You pick up a stone, tossing it down the hallway in front of her.

"Hello?" Kanaya asks, pausing.

Roxy glances at you and you nod, becoming visible once more. "We have a short amount of time to move Kan. It seems like mistress Sweetell will have her pretty jade underwear in a twist if she knew what was happenin." You say, Roxy offering Kanaya a hand.

"She can take a large bulge and shove it up her nonexistent nook." Kanaya says simply, nudging the lump out from under her dress. "Will you carry Revati, Eridan?"

You look at the small two sweep year old, kneeling down and offering her a hand. "Hey, I'm eridan Ampora, pleasure ta meet ya." You say, meeting the young troll's gaze.

She stares at you, glancing up at Kanaya as she nods. You hold out a hand once more, the troll taking a hold on it before you lift her up, surprised by how light she was. You take one more look over Kanaya, mostly unsurprised to see how gaunt she looks. Roxy takes your hand as you hear footsteps, the three of you fading into the void. Kanaya glances around and you shuffle to the wall.

"Maryam-"

"What?" She snaps, turning her gaze to the troll. "Must you watch me all day Sweetell?"

"Sweetell is not here." The voice muses.

"Oh, Mistress Belvmont, forgive me. I have had Sweetell pestering me while I was trying to walk and-" you see Kanaya deflate and send you a helpless glance. Revati reaches out, you catching her hand so she didn't go tumbling from your grip as she glances between Kanaya and you.

"Are you heading to your 'coon shortly?" The new troll asks and Kanaya nods.

"I am merely talking a walk to ease my troubled mind before I head to sleep. I have had a long day." Kanaya says and you feel Revati squirm as you shift your grip on her. Roxy glances at the two of you, worried.

"You got a hold on her?" She asks, voice barely above a whisper.

"Yeah," you respond back.

"I want my mom," Revati says and you wince when you realize she's staring Kanaya down.

"She'll be back with us soon." You promise, resting a hand on her shoulder. While you had the back and forth whispers, you had missed something that Belvmont and Kanaya said. 

"I would like to see you when you wake up, can you do that for me?" Mistress Belvmont inquires and you see the jade blood come into view. She's shorter than Kanaya, but older than Sweetell. You wonder how long Jade bloods live. In the distance, you can hear the churr of just hatched grubs and you feel a shiver go down your spine. Trolls were not meant to be in the brooding caverns if they could help it.

"I can, good day Belvmont." Kanaya says and you watch her shuffle away. Roxy leans forward, taking Kanaya's hand and bringing her into the circle.

"We need to hurry, fast." You say, looking between the human and troll.

"Right," Roxy says and you begin to retrace your steps. You look at Kanaya, frowning when you see her stumble, Roxy helping her.

"You okay?" You ask, Roxy slowing down and frowning when you reached where the door was supposed to be. Kanaya nods in response to your question, meeting your gaze.

"Just tired," she says simply.

"You...put a rock here, right?" Roxy asks and you glance at where the door should be. Opened, just a crack....

"I did," you say warily. "Can't you phase through walls and get us on the other side?"

"I can phase through a wall, I can't take others with me." Roxy says. "We can blast the door open... Or, I can leave you on this side, phase through, and open it from the other. But you will be stuck in case others come-" She cuts off as there is a scream of horror. You glance at Kanaya, the jade blood shrugging, helpless.

"Go," you say, dropping Roxy's hand, sliding up to the wall and setting Revati behind you. The young troll whines as Kanaya presses against the wall as well, her hands going down to touch Revati's hair gently. You know Roxy will need help getting the door open...

"You are doing so well little one. We will be safe shortly," Kanaya says, kneeling down in front of her and pulling her into a hug as much as the chains and shackles would allow. You grimace, keeping a tight grip on your rifle as you hear several footsteps go up and down the different cavern pathways. You hold your breath as you hear someone start down yours before you hear Belvmont call them back.

"Maryam is in her block, go fetch her!" Belvmont says and you hear the troll retreat. You twitch when you hear footsteps still coming down the hall, Kanaya squaring her shoulders and standing.

"I could create us a door." She says, looking up at you. It's dark in the caverns, more so than on Feferi's side, but you relish in the darkness. Your hood is still down and you see the jade blood stop, catching sight of you.

"Well, I haven't seen a seadweller in many, many sweeps. What do we owe the pleasure?" The jade blood asks, voice polite.

"Oh, you see grubs every fuckin day," you say, aiming your gun at the troll.

"I do mean, I haven't seen a full grown seadweller since I came down to the caves." The troll says with a small smile. "I have a couple of seadweller grubs, but they are growing rarer... We have become...strained under the Condesce's control. But, my dear Kanaya, I cannot let you leave with that grub."

"If you want to take her, you have to get through me," you say. The words are out of your mouth before you consider them and you're stepping between Belvmont and Kanaya and the grub. She reminds you so much of Feferi at that age and you know you can't leave her behind now. You raise your gun, the jade blood raising an eyebrow in return.

"And what is your name?" She asks, sounding ever patient.

"Eridan Ampora," you reply, finger on the trigger. Roxy would have to go get another troll, more than likely Equius to open the door. You had considered getting Equius to help you open it.

"I remember you," Belvmont says suddenly, and you see that she is nearly blind. "You were just a grub last I saw you. What are you doing with my troll Mr. Ampora? And why do you not carry a title like adult trolls should?"

"Because I'm dead, accordin to the empire." You reply, not letting your gun drop. You shake your head, trying to clear the fuzziness from it. Her voice made you want to drop your gun and curl up. Maybe even go to sleep. You grit your teeth, locking your eyes on hers.

"Put the gun down, why don't you be a good troll now?" Belvmont says and you stare at her. Your aspect flares up, brightening. Hope, you had to hope they came soon enough. You pull the trigger, watched the troll collapse. You turn, breathing hard and are relieved to see Kanaya sheiling Revati from the violence.

"Power of persuasion," Kanaya says softly.

You nod, playing with the power setting on Ahab's Crosshairs before getting Kanaya to look at you. "How well do you trust me?" You ask.

"Not well," she admits.

"I can shoot the links, free your hands from your horns. Why would they even do that?" You ask.

"I can provide for the mother grub this way, but I am unable to make the motions needed to call upon my aspect. I would rather Equius broke them-" Kanaya glances up as the door opens. You place the gun back on your back, picking up Revati. You and Kanaya slip through the door, Equius letting the door slide shut. He glances at Kanaya, nodding as Roxy lets out a smile to see all of you safe.

"Do you require help I heard?" Equius says and Kanaya turns to him, showing him the chains. He nods and the two of them walk away. The grub looks after Kanaya before looking at you, confusion plain on her face. Her gray eyes settle on yours and you shift, glancing at the door that is now sealed once more.

"Come on, let's go meet Fef," you say, taking the troll in your arms. You head down the hall, Roxy following as Revati stares at you, poking at your fin curiously.

"You're not like the other trolls," she says finally. "You have purple in your eyes!"

"Violet," you correct. "I am a seadweller troll. You were livin among Jade bloods like Kanaya, where the mothergrub is kept and other grubs are hatched and sent to live on the earth's surface."

"She told me a lot about the blood system." The troll says and you shift the young troll in your arms as you walk into Feferi's main cavern. "I'm nearly three sweeps old,"

"Eridan?"

You glance up, watching Feferi before you set the young troll down. There is similarities between her and Feferi, but you find yourself wondering how Feferi looks at the young troll as she bounds from the spot where she was discussing something with Nepeta and kneels in front of the troll.

"You must be Revati..." You take your leave, heading back to your block and laying on the bed, closing your eyes. Your hands still tremble and you wonder why you shot the jade blood.

***

You stare at the wall after several hours of thinking, getting up from the small side table and changing into new clothes. They were better than your threadbare clothes that you had been wearing, and they felt clean. You glance around the small cave block before heading out of the area, too unsettled to sit and focus on any one thing. Your mind is turning and when you look up, you see Dirk lounging against the wall.

"Sup?" He asks.

"Can't sleep," you say with a shrug. You hadn't been trying to sleep, but you wish you had been able to all the same. "You?"

"Same," he says with a nod.

"Something on your mind...?" You ask, glancing over his posture. He looks tense, ready to flee at any moment.

"You knew my bro well?" He asks.

"I suppose. But there were other trolls that probably knew him better. He talked with Sollux and Karkat a lot before... Before we even began plannin this whole thing the first time." You try to think back then, but your mind doesn't want to. It keeps stumbling back to Revati and Kanaya and the jade blood you had culled. It had been in self defense, that's what you'll keep telling yourself. "I would say Kar knew him best."

"But I trust you," Dirk says and you stare at him, eyes widening in surprise.

"Why?" You ask.

He shrugs, looking everywhere but your face, despite having those glasses on. "Think of it as a Strider thing. My bro trusted you. From the note that he left, he valued your opinion at least."

"Well, that's a good thing, I suppose." you say, scratching the back of your head. "So, what do you want to know?"

"I don't know.... We didn't spend a whole lot of time together. And when he saw me last, he left a couple of letters. And I'm not saying five word notes, but like, pages of letters. He left seven, one for each birthday. And in the last one, he told me about you and to find you if I read it. He expected to come back, didn't he?" Dirk asks and you see him as a scared child for a moment. He's stoic, a face that is hard to read, but you see underneath, the words striking a chord in him.

"We expected that some would die and some would return. We didn't know who would be where though on the living or dead spectrum." You say after a moment. "I thought I was gonna die, he thought he would live and get to go back to his bro. He didn't talk about a whole lot, but he told me he wanted to get back to you. He felt like neither of you had a proper childhood and that he wanted to be there for you." You shrug, chewing at your lip.

"Trolls have lusus that raise them, right?" Dirk asks and you nod.

"Yeah, we don't do the human family thing. We may meet our ancestor if we're higher blood. But, that is rarer than oinkbeasts shitting diamonds unless you're Tyrian." You point out.

"Oinkbeasts shitting diamonds?" Dirk asks and raises an eyebrow. "You know, I'm not..."

"Your bro?" You ask, shaking your head. "He made the comparison when I told him. It sort of stuck with me, I suppose." You frown at the thought, wondering how much of what Dave said actually stuck in your mind before he left. "He cared for you and I regret that we could not bring him back for you. Even bring his body back for one of your human corpse parties."

"I figured he would have come back if he could." Dirk says with a nod. "I...reading through the letters was hard. He mentioned you and Karkat a lot. Fond of you. I..." He hesitates and you shake your head.

"You look like you don't want to talk about-" You frown when you hear a distant honk and you turn, gun already in hand. You swallow, feeling a wave of fear crash through you. There are shouts and you're running, panicked voices reaching you from the main cavern and you see Feferi, perched on her throne, eyes gone and replaced with bloody holes. You look around, Sollux frozen, Nepeta crouched by the chair. Revati is under the table, the only one seeming able to move. She looks at you, and you see the fear of the wriggler plain as day.

Strider is behind you and you raise your gun, staring at the main hall before you see a figure, shambling with hands in pockets. It looks like strings are dragging behind him and the smell of death rolls over you.

"Honk honk motherfucker," the voice purrs and all eyes snap to the troll. Your blood turns to ice and a mask of smeared paint looks back at you, eyes blank. "She's up and motherfucking done with being waiting. One week heiress, unless you be up and wanting to motherfucking die suffocating in the soil of this cave. She can be making sacrifices, always will up and be another motherfucking grub."

You feel the strain of the chucklevoodoos and you see something non-troll moving behind the eyes of the walking corpse. You had heard of The Condesce's ability to take life, you had even heard of how she had kept the Helmsman alive long after his time. But you had never imagined the walking corpse trick she was parading now.

"Gamzee," someone breathes and you raise your gun and aim, watching the shot smack the corpse in the shoulder. Strings seem to attach the shoulder back, pulling it into place despite the gaping hole. He just shambles on, back to you. You feel the cold consume you and the cry of a young troll. What struck you the most was that the corpse didn't bleed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really didn't want to write the "break into the caverns" scene and wrote the aftermath first. It's time for a shambling corpse party!! *interest Aradia's creepy face here*


	7. The Corpse Party

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to be honest. I don't know if anyone is still even interested in reading this as it's getting wonky in set up. But, I should have a couple more chapters to go. Hope you are enjoying what you're reading! The ending should be interesting.

"Describe to me what you saw?"

You press a hand to your temples as you look up at Aradia, watching her gaze before glancing away, unable to hold it for long.

"I heard honking, while talking to Dirk. When I came to this room... Gamzee's.... His... Gamzee's corpse was shambling its way down the hall. Something was dragging behind it, and when I shot his arm, it didn't come off. Just sorta...." You halt, unable to find the words you want to.

"It started to sew itself together." Kanaya suggests from her seat. "I saw him briefly on my way in with Equius before he vanished. We were unable to stop him." You are sitting with Aradia around a table. The humans are sections off in their own way, Revati is sitting next to Feferi and you can see the wriggler glance at Kanaya every so often.

"He didn't feel alive." Feferi says finally, breaking her silence. She hadn't said anything other than calling a meeting since you had seen the walking corpse.

"Should we consider that is what they did to the other bodies that were left behind?" Jake asks, voice hesitant and soft. "Because that's....those are, or were, our family members."

You stomach flips as you think about the possibility of there being more than just one. You couldn't imagine facing one down, let alone more. It was unknown territory.

"It's...possible." Terezi says, turning blind eyes on Jake.

"Regardless, she gave us a week to meet her." Feferi says, voice wavering just a tad on the word week. "We aren't anywhere near prepared-"

"We'll just steal the luck." Vriska interjects.

"I would strongly advise from letting your plan hinge on luck stolen by you alone Serket." Equius says, voice quiet and he looks at Vriska. "Are we to be sure that you will not flee our group once more?"

"Yeah Vriska..." Aradia says, leveling her maroon gaze on the troll. "It seems pretty...."

"It was a deal we made." Feferi says, voice grim. There had been tension when they had seen her return. Even you were thrown off guard, no matter how reassuring Feferi sounded. "There was a chance we would fail. I took the oppurtunaty to place a prawn where I could. We have knowledge that we wouldn't have had before."

"We can sneak in, there are the tunnels we didn't use before..." Nepeta offers, glancing around the group. "But, the Condesce may also know about those. It would be..." She hesitates, tipping her head to the side. "She may even be expecting us to come through those tunnels."

"She's expectin us regardless a where we come from." You say, crossing your arms over your chest. "I was told that I was supposed to be doin the strategic plannin. If you have suggestions, it will be after we discuss the possibility of our _dead_ friends being used as meat puppets against us."

"How do you think she did it?" Tavros asks, speaking up for the first time since the meeting started.

"Same way she kept the Helmsman alive all these sweeps." Sollux said bitterly. "But, it would have been after he died..."

"Capturing a bit of their essence of life as they died, and forcing that part to animate dead flesh." Jane suggests.

"Ah Janey, you've been watching Jakey's movies again, haven't you?" Roxy frowned. You can see the terror in their eyes, see the way their hope deflates around them. Children pretending to be adults.

"That's a bloody right idea!" Jake says, looking at Jane. "Good suggestion my old friend. It is more than like that there is black magic afoot!"

"Did he grow up on shitty movies? Did no one bother to teach him how to speak properly?" Vriska asks, raising an eyebrow. "I get why you would be cautious of me. I turned tail, flipped to the other side. But it's not going to happen again. There's no point. The Condesce would know me as a traitor anyway. But when we do take her down, I do have knowledge on how several different aspects of the empire does work. Which I think is more than most of you."

"Vriskers has a point." Nepeta says with a frown.

"Yes, Vriska does have a point." Feferi glanced around at the trolls, her gaze landing on the humans. "We did not know what happened to their bodies, I am so sorry if my ancestor has done this to your....family?" She frowned, stumbling over the word.

"This just means I can kick bro's ass for leaving me behind." Dirk says, voice deadpan and you look at him. "Look, we'll fight whatever comes our way. If it means weird zombie family members, sign me the fuck up. I've always wanted to take on-"

"You don't mean that!" Roxy snaps.

"Whatever do you mean Lalonde?" Dirk demands, turning his head to look at her. "I'll kick zombie bro's ass for every pain he's caused. Doesn't mean I want to live in a zombie infested afterworld."

"We aren't dead yet." Jane says, voice soft. "And we don't even know if it would work on humans. For all we know, it was only the one troll she managed to corrupt."

"I'm all for living in a zombie movie Strider, but not when it comes at the cost of Jade being a zombie." Jake says and Dirk scoots his chair back, getting up.

"We have to face it, don't we?" He asks, cocking his head and looking at Feferi. "You're the next empress. What do you think? Is it possible that your ancestor turned our family members into zombie meat suits? Do you think that we'll have to be fighting them?"

"It's more than likely," Feferi says softly.

"I'm going to bed." Dirk says and leaves the room. Roxy watches him, Kanaya getting up from her seat and stretch, the chains from her horns and wrists gone.

"Perhaps it is time for all of us to retire." She says, and you notice she sounds much older than the seven years that have passed since you last saw her, weeping over Rose's broken body. Rose had been the first to die, hadn't she? You swallow at the thought of seeing Dave's broken body, propped up like a puppet. You get up as well, glancing at Feferi.

"We can talk more about specific plans in the morning." You say. "Continue discussin it tonight, catch me up on it later. I don't care." You leave the room, going down the hall and following Dirk as quiet as you could. You listen to a rock clatter, seeing Dirk tense before he moves almost too fast for you to follow.

"Go away Lalonde," Dirk snaps, turning and you move a hand out, wincing as the blade cuts into the arm he had previously cut. You look down at him, raising an eyebrow.

"Do you always raise swords to people?" You ask, looking at the cut. There would be an X shaped scar on your arm now. You had once joked about getting two scars to mirror your ancestor. You did not expect them in this way and to be from a friend.

"No, I just... Shit, is your arm okay?" He asks and you nod, but let him look at it anyway.

"I'll be fine. The other's already healed." You point out. It had healed nearly a week and a half ago. "Seadwellers are particularly fast healers, I promise you."

"Compared to humans, any troll is really fast at healing. What's with the child?" Dirk asks. "In the excitement over everything else, I forgot to ask."

"Revati Peixes," you say, picturing the wriggler in your head. "Kanaya has been hiding her. It's not a set in place plan, but I'm pretty sure Fef doesn't plan on stayin rulin long." You frown, running your unhurt arm over your face. Dirk had wrapped your arm with something from his sylladex.

"So... Is she like Fef's sister or something?" Dirk asks.

"Descendent?" You offer. "Technically, Fef would be dead. The empire doesn't register her as alive. But she sent in pails of genetic material and Kan did some digging, from what I heard last night. The Condesce hasn't sent pails in a long time. It's more than likely that it's Fef's descendent than a throwback to the Condesce."

"Huh," Dirk frowns. "I know it takes two to send a pail...."

"We were black for a couple a years," you shrug. "But usually wrigglers will only be strongly connected to one ancestor over any other. Unless you got two wrigglers with the same exact fifty fifty parentage. Which is more than likely never goin to happen."

"There's four quadrants, right?" Dirk asks and you nod.

"Ashen, pale, red, and black. The latter two are the ones you would turn buckets in for. Ashen is when you step in between two trolls whose black fling romance settles into dangerous, 'I want to kill you' territory." You explain.

"Isn't black about violence?" Dirk asks and you shake your head.

"It's about making each other better." You say. "Through rivalry."

"So you and Feferi...?" Dirk asks.

"Were flipping quadrants like crazy when we were younger. Neither of us were happy with what we had, so we broke it off and decided we were better continuing as friends." You reply. "She has a matesprit in Nepeta. They're good for each other."

"I see," Dirk frowns, glancing at you curiously. "How do you feel about it?"

"Personally? I'm better off not botherin with those sorts of things. When I was a kid, I was a brat. There are a lot of things I wish I could change. I hurt a lot of people. I never wanted to be a killer though, after all is said and done." You laugh, your voice humorless. "Funny how the things we find out are only after we do it, huh?"

"You can't figure out what you like until you've done it." Dirk points out. "And it's good that you don't like killing. It means that there is hope for trolls as a whole."

"Wait until you meet other trolls." You suggest. "Now that you have made a....very strange digression into my personal history. What's got your underwear in a twist Strider?"

"If someone dies, you shouldn't fuck with the body." Dirk says, turning to stare at you. His sword is away, his hands curled at his side. "The Condesce is fucked up for sending that....thing here. And-"

"She knows where we are, threatened to cull us all via suffocation, wants us to face her down in six days, and left a door open for us." You say. "It has the word trap scrawled all over it in bright red chalk. Everythin in me is telling me that we can't fight and win against her if we take the offer. But the only other chance we have is leaving this cavern and hope she can't find us while we figure out what to do. That doesn't sound any better than the other option."

"Yeah, that." Dirk says. "So...why did you follow me?"

"Because you were upset and we broke to go to bed." You say. "We'll be fine. Why don't you get to bed Dirk?"

"I'm not some kid who needs an adult to tell them what to do." Dirk grumbles and you raise an eyebrow.

"Fine, then do you want to talk amore about Dave?" You ask. "We have a bit, I can tell you what I know." You gesture towards your block. If you dig hard enough, you might even find something Dave left behind... Dirk nods, following you back and you mentally sigh. It was going to be a long week.

***

_Three days left..._

You glance up when you hear the words, not finding anyone around. It had been four days since you started trying to make a plan. You are sitting at a table in the main meeting room, your eyes glued onto the paper before you. Plans swirl in your head. You could use the tunnel, try to sneak. Move early, maybe surprise her. But it boiled down to her knowing that you would be coming. It didn't matter what you did from this point on. She knew you were coming.

"I know," you say, despite having not seen who had spoken.

Kanaya is still on the mend, though she looks better today than she had when you left the brooding caverns. You didn't want to ask her what had happened. You see less of everyone as you hide yourself away. You look at the paper once more, scratching out another plan that wouldn't work. You jump when you feel a hand on your shoulder, looking at the pale skinned hand.

"You have to eat some time Ampora." Dirk says, removing his hand.

"I have to make this plan." You reply with a shrug.

"You haven't moved in the last three days. You're going to hurt yourself if you keep this up." Dirk points out.

"You're not my moirail." You shoot back, still going over ideas in your head.

"Full frontal assault. She knows we're coming. There's nothing we can do about that. There are fourteen of us. Against an ageless empress and who knows what else. We fight full on. What's the worst that can happen?" Dirk asks.

"That's not a strategy." You grunt. "I have two days to come up with something that will mean we win."

"There's no other way around it. And it's three days." Dirk puts a hand on your papers, pulling them away and looking at you. "What do you think you can try and come up with?"

"A plan that means no one dies." You say, meeting Dirk's gaze.

"People die, that's the way of life. We go in there, guns blazing. We fight whatever fucking corpse monsters that she throws at us. We win, we have Feferi as empress. We go back to ignoring that this all ever happened." Dirk says, gritting his teeth. "It happens."

"That's not a plan." You say, and you can picture the corpse of Gamzee shambling into the caverns. There had been no warning. There are fourteen of you, with powers that only the legendary heroes have. You don't know how you can use that to your benefit.

"You not sleeping isn't a plan either." Dirk says, voice softer. "Come on, why don't you-"

"What do you want?" You ask finally, looking up a thim. "You've been the one leaving food outside, right?"

"Erh, yeah, how'd you...know?" Dirk asks.

"Just a guess," you say with a shrug. "The others have been in and out, but I haven't seen you and I haven't seen them leave food when they leave."

"Will you take a short nap?" Dirk asks.

"No," you respond, setting your jaw stubbornly. You remember the two weeks of travelling. It was always you and dirk that were the last two up. You went back and forth until you settled on a rotating watch.

"You're going to stress over something you can't control. There seems to only be one way forward with this. You know that. Why are you still pretending that there isn't?" Dirk asks.

"There has to be a trap. She can't-" You hesitate, giving up and resting your arms on the table, your head pillowed by them. "Fine, I'll take a short nap."

"In your room." Dirk presses and you glare at him but get up, stretching and letting your muscles crack and pop as you moved. You see Dirk watch you as you hobble to your block, grumbling under your breath. You wonder if your aspect had been given to you as a joke. Prince of Hope. You could see the upcoming fight as something that there was no way to get out of. People would die, trolls would die. And even working with others, you couldn't figure out how to save anyone.

You close your eyes, letting yourself fall onto your bed and fall asleep.

***

_One day left_

You stare up at the castle, feeling your stomach flip. You have one day until you are supposed to be here. The only one not here is the wriggler Kanaya brought with her from the caverns. She could defend herself, and it would be easier for her to disappear on her own than her coming with you. That's what Feferi had discussed with you and her before leaving. You have found that Jane can revive people if they die, if only once. Kanaya is good at healing, as is Jane and Feferi. Feferi has to fight against her ancestor. Terezi and Sollux went back and forth on who would die. Aradia and Tavros were working on a part of their own.

After talking with Dirk, you had slept and, when you woke, told Feferi that there was no strategy. The Condesce knew you were coming. You didn't have the time needed to get everything together. There were too many unknown variables. The thought made you want to heave out the contents of your stomach.

"So, we know the plan?" Vriska asks and you see her dice in her hand.

"There is no plan!" Feferi announces. "Jane and Kanaya will be staying back. We will be taking the main path. We will deal with what we find along the way. I feel very few signs of life within this place." She adds, glancing around the group and it dawns on you that they think she should have a plan.

Seven trolls look at her in shock, Nepeta scooting off to the side as Equius starts to say something, patting at his arm and beckoning for him to bend down and listen. Vriska opens her mouth but Terezi just laughs.

"We couldn't make a plan because we don't know what we're going up against." Terezi gaps, her eyes wide as she laughs again. "What a fine way of telling us Peixes."

"Of course," Feferi says with a small nod and you judge the humans as well. They look just as shocked, though you can't be sure what Dirk is thinking behind his shades. "We're going to make it."

"Maybe," Terezi agrees, a frown on her face but that's besides the point. You turn, heading into castle. It's a heavy, physical feeling. The smell of death is on you. You split into groups. Jane goes with Vriska and Terezi. You take Dirk and Sollux. Feferi, Roxy, and Kanaya go another way, while Tavros, Aradia, and Jake. Equius and Nepeta were set to go by themselves and you trust them.

"So, we just find a way to the Condesce?" Dirk asks. It's quiet in the hallway and every moment, you imagine the sounds of dead footsteps catching up to you. You shiver at the thought, feeling a hand touch your arm. You raise your gun, glancing at Dirk.

"ED, you're freaking yourself out." Sollux says, hands in his pockets. You shake your head, taking another turn and stopping when you hear the sound of metal on stone. You look up, seeing a flash.

"Sup little prawns? Glad to sea you make it in time."

You meet eyes with the meat suit that was once Dave Strider, his shades gone and his eyes blank. No color, but something haunting behind them.


	8. The End Begins

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Set up for the beginning of the end.

"Vriska, stop!"

You hesitate, glancing back at your moirail. You see Jane frown, her arm linked through Terezi so she didn't lose track of anything. She had complained about everything smelling dank and indifferent to her delicate senses. You agreed with her on that one. 

"What's wrong?" you ask, dropping back to her side. You had moved ahead, determined to find your way around.

"There's..." Terezi frowns, sniffing the air. "The smell of bright blue in the air."

"Bright blue...?" You ask, raising an eyebrow. "It's dank, and... Oh fuck..." You see him then. You aren't sure how he escaped your sight, but you have a feeling it has to do with your unlucky streak that was starting to show once more. Too much stealing luck would cause you to run unlucky for quite some time afterwards.

"What-" Jane begins asks, turning to her gaze to the figure at the end of the hallway.

"Hey guys! I'm glad you could make it!" The figure says and you see the _Warhammer of Zillyhoo_ propped on his shoulder. John's wearing the same goofy smile he wore last time he you had seen him. You take a hard swallow, dice in hand and refusing to let your hands shake now. "Just in tide fa me ta krill ya!"

***

"Are you sure this isn't like a movie?" Jake asks and you repress the urge to reach over and strangle him.

"No, this is not like one of your human adventure stories." Aradia says brightly. "This is MUCH more exciting! Real live action. I wonder..." She raises her whip and you look at her, frowning. You wonder how she managed to seem so happy about everything.

"What's wrong?" You ask, reaching out your mind. There is no animals in this castle and it makes you shiver. There was nothing for you to send out in way of scouting. In a sense, you felt blind. The silence was unnerving as well.

"I heard a gun...shot?" Aradia took a step back and you feel time slow. You see her pull Jake aside, a bullet passing by you and just barely missing.

You turn and see Jade, black ripped dress making her nearly blend in with the dark shadows. You see her hair, and you swallow, lance already in hand.

She giggles and raises her gun once more at Aradia. "Oh! You must have the same powers as the human bouy! Ain't that a swell thing to wash up."

***

"Equius?" You pause, glancing behind you to see that your moirail has stopped.

"I would prefer if you did not fight." Equius says, glancing at you and you hiss, glaring at him.

"We're not going to have this conversation," you say, crossing your arms and glaring at him. You shake out your arms, attaching your claws and arching an eyebrow.

"But-" Equius tries and you shake your head.

"I'm fighting. We're better as a team." You point out.

"I-" He frowned, glancing towards the end of the hallway. A distant honk meets you and you feel a shiver down your spine. You could feel the slow crawl of fear in the air and you see Equius tremble.

"Honk honk, motherfuckers." The voice says and Gamzee stands, clubs in hands.

***

"Kanaya, are you sure you're okay?" Roxy asks and you glance at the jade blood, worried.

"I will be fine," Kanaya says, straightening and pulling her hand away from the wall. 

"Feferi...?" Roxy asks. You want to tell Kanaya to return, to protect Revati. But you can't see her backing down now. You know she will come no matter what you say.

You hold up one hand, Psidon's Entente in your other hand. "Something's...coming?" You tip your head trying to figure out what was coming.

Kanaya flashes in front of you and you take a step back, watching her, surprised by her sudden strength.

"Rose?" Kanaya asks, voice faint, and you look at the end of the hallway. A young woman with pale hair stands in a black dress, long needles arching light in her outstretched hands.

"Hello dear, I fear that this beach ain't here to answer you." The woman's face lifts into a smile and you understand the piece of life thriving in the corpse is a piece of the Condesce herself. You internally scream at the thought, fingers itching to tear out your own hair at the idea that she could have done a thing.

***

You stare at the screens, watching the groups on the screens. Your eyes are blank, void of any emotion, but there is still enough left of you to understand what is going to happen.

"So little shrimp, how ya like the view?" The empress asks and you don't move. You are wrapped up in her life giving tentacles. You are the power source that is keeping the castle electricity alive. You are nearing the end of your extended life, even with the Condesce helping. You cannot continue to sustain the electricity much longer.

"Porpuse I shoald replace ya with your jumping descendent," the Condesce says and you can't give a response beyond a small grunt. You twitch your gaze to the figure in the shadows, thinking of your long lost friend. The broken body shambles forward, eyes trained on the screen. You had grown use to these meat puppets over the past several sweeps. They still send shivers down your spine.

You could see symbols you recognized on the trolls on screen. Maryam, Leijon, Zahhak, Captor, Peixes...those were all names you knew growing up. Those were descendents of friends and enemies you once knew in flesh and blood. You see even more that you had learned during your time as a Helmsman. Pyrope, Serket, Nitram, Megido, Ampora, even the clown body the Condesce pushed around, Makara you knew. The thought would have turned your stomach, if you had much in way of lower body organs left to your name. But you are no more than just a brain in a jar with maybe an upper body half to your name.

"All twelve of the descendents in one swoop," The Condesce cooes and you see there is still fight left in the mutant troll from where he stands in the shadows. He hadn't been dead yet when Condesce had taken him. He had fought, but eventually, she had drained the will left to live, just as she had done to you sweeps and sweeps ago. Pieces of their souls are wrapped up, still trying to escape. You wonder if they will be strong enough to win against her.

You close your eyes, not wanting to see any more. But it didn't stop you from hearing what was happening.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next couple of chapters are going to be wonky as fuck, apologizes for this.


	9. Breathe in Time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It should be two fights per chapter and, while I am crap at writing action, I am trying to make it as interesting as possible and them all having different ways of dying. Enjoy!

"Dave," You say, jaw locked as you feel your hand tremble on the trigger of the gun. You see Dirk flinch besides you when he sees Dave. Sollux is glancing between you and the human, a question beginning to form before you run to the side, cursing as a sword comes down right where you were previously standing.

"Don't you want to have a feelings jam?" Dave asks, raising his head and looking at you. His sun glasses are dangling off his shirt, the irises of his eyes are a fuschia color, and you see little of what was left of Dave in his eyes.

"Bro," Dirk says and he has his own sword raised. "Hey! Douchebag, forget me?"

The Dave puppet turns, eyes unfocusing before focusing on Dirk. "Hey little bro, I was going to come back, you know that?" He asks, straightening and looking Dirk in the eyes. "See you're still wearing your shades. Did you finish that auto responder that you were working on?"

You edge your way around, watching Sollux begin to spark and then you blink, Dave is gone and reappearing inches away from Sollux. Sollux glares, hands sparking and a bolt of psionics crashes over Dave, blasting him back. The puppet laughs, being pulled up slowly, strings seeming to come from somewhere. You don't see them leading anywhere and it makes your skin crawl.

"Fuck you!" Dirk snaps, rushing forward and you raise your gun, only to find Dave not there and you having to move as Dirk slides to a halt near you. Sollux grumbles, eyes tracking the figure leaping through time as he comes at you from behind. Dirk moves, catching Dave's sword and pushing him away.

"What are wrong with these?" Sollux asks and you glance at him.

"What do ya mean?" You shoot back, trying to keep an eye on Dave.

"They aren't... They're dead but.... Argh," you see Sollux drop to his knees, hands clutched to his head. You glance up, seeing Dirk and Dave with their swords locked. "Fuck-the-voices." He gasps.

"Hey, prince, what can ya feel?" You call, catching Dirk's gaze. He frowns at you, his broken concentration just enough for Dave to surge past and flash away. You make a slow circle, gaze darting over the space, gun still raised.

"What?" Dirk asks, making his way back to you and Sollux.

"God fucking damn it!" Sollux snaps, and you step aside, feeling the rush of psionics past you. You feel the burn and crackle in the air, Sollux slumping once more and you hear a body hitting the ground.

"The soul, what is keeping this thing alive?" You ask, glancing at Dirk. "Heart, matter of souls and whatnot, right?"

"Yeah, oh, fuck!" Dirk face palms, holding his sword lightly in one hand while he thinks, trying to get his thoughts together. You raise your gun, seeing where the body had landed. You see it twitch once, twice, then see the strings begin to pull it together.

"That won't work," The Dave puppet says, turning a gaze on you.

"Fuck you." You say, aiming your gun and taking a shot. You watch the Dave puppet move and curse, realizing he was going to keep using the time trick to avoid fighting. You turn, Sollux climbing back up to his feet with the help of a wall.

"We need to disable him," Sollux says, voice strained.

"Thank you fuckin obvious!" You snap, turning your glare on Sollux. "What do you suggest we do?" You demand.

"Make time become meaningless, or rip out his soul." he responds, rubbing his head, surprise in his eyes. He had been stunned from the earlier blast, but now he looked confused. "Holy fuck, there's no headache," he whispered.

"What, are we supposed to break time?" Dirk asks and raises his sword to block Dave's attack, cursing. It was minutes passing for them, but for Dave it was seconds, hopping forward in time as he was.

"How do you suppose we do that?" You demand, aiming a shot and hoping Dave would land in it. You were right, but the puppet just began pulling itself together, like it was a toy meant to break and come back together with string. You had seen a human play with one of those before. You don't remember what they were called.

"I don't know," Sollux snaps and you see him duck as a sword comes his way and Dave is gone again.

"Think the others are having this much fun?" Dirk asks, raising his sword in time to block another strike before Dave disappears.

"Heh, Seer of Light, Heir of Breath-John oughta be a breeze-, Witch of Space, and whatever the fuck Gamzee was. Should be a walk in a park compared to this bastard." You say, letting off a blast and watching it hit Dave. In the past few minutes of him popping in and out, you had started to notice a pattern. "Okay, Gamzee may not be,"

"Dirk-" you say and he raises his sword, blocking and swiping at Dave's dominate hand. You see him flash out, tracking the air before aiming your gun at Sollux and raising it, hitting it off just a second and you see it hit Dave.

"What?" Sollux asks, glancing up in time to see Dave. He gets off his own blast before Dave gets up and flashes out again.

"He'll go for Dirk again," you say and Dirk sprung towards you, ducking as Dave swung out. "Then me," you say as time seems to speed up and you duck under the sword, aiming a shot at Dave and cursing when it missed. "Then Dirk again!" You call out, Dirk flash stepping back and striking out, pulling his sword away before it got caught in the fabric of what Dave was wearing.

"So, Dirk, troll, Dirk, troll, ect?" Sollux asks, a blast ready for when Dave would reappear.

"Dirk, Eridan, Dirk, Sollux, Dirk..." Dave laughs, and you nearly meet with a sword, feeling the blade hit your horns. You blink, trying to clear the ringing as the Strider knocked you down, looming over you. "Never play fairly, keep them on their feet." He grins and you see Dirk bash into him, knocking him off of you.

You get to your feet, ducking a blast from Sollux and shooting him a glare. He whirls, and the three of you group back together, Dirk grimacing. "Any suggestions?" He asks and you shake your head.

"Hope we can blast him to bits?" Sollux suggests and you hear feet further down the hallway. You glance over, seeing the Dave puppet stop and raise his hands, sword glittering.

"Setting him on fire?" Dirk suggests.

"Fuck," you sigh, raising your gun and looking at him. "Think the others are having better luck than us?"

***

"What do you mean you're out of luck!" Jane says and you throw your dice, picking up the weapon when the dice landed on all eights and cursing as the wind cuts your face.

"I told you," you snap, listening to Terezi's tapping of the cane. You see Jane roll her eyes, taking a step back as the wind picks up again. This time a light breeze rather than the cutting edge it had been. You turn, waving the sword and watching the floating boy. You jump upwards, sword slicing down and catching the edge of John's pants.

"Why don't you come down here and talk John?" You call, watching him.

"I like being up here," John grins, looking down at you. "Your outfit looks amazing Vriska!"

You glance down at your old FLARP outfit that had generated when you rolled the eight eights. You grimace, glancing back up at John once more. "This old thing? I forgot all about it. But why don't you come back down so we can talk about it? I can tell you the story of my amazing ancestor. I'm sure you'd love it!"

"Nope," the boy said and you watch him float higher. Terezi frowns, Jane raising up her giant fork and throwing it. You see it sail through the air, John blinking as the fork pierces him. You laugh as he flops to the ground, his hand twitching. Then you see him begin to pull the fork out of his chest and tosses it to the ground.

"No blood," Terezi says, Jane ducking and reclaiming her weapon as John looks at the holes in his chest.

"I can't-" Jane takes a step back, feeling the wind push past her before she was blown away. Terezi and you glance at each other, Terezi pressing her cane to the floor to try and stay in place. You look into the wind before pressing against the wall. During the entire time, John held the _Warhammer of Zillyhoo_ in his left hand. You hadn't gotten close enough for him to engage in hand to hand combat.

"Give it up!" You shout, turning John's full attention on you. You wave your sword, hearing your heart thud in your ears. You feel the rising fear in your stomach, but shove it down as best as you could. "You're not even alive! So, go back to being dead, okay?" You suggest.

"Of course I'm-" John frowns and you see Terezi's face light up.

"There is a way!" She says and makes her way towards you. The wind dies down and you reach out a hand, pulling her to the safety of the wall.

"So, what's the way?" You ask, voice dropping to where only she could hear.

"Remind the corpse that he's dead." She grins and you raise an eyebrow.

"Okaaaaaaaay, you have lost your mind Pyrope," you say.

"The Condesce stole their life, so that means that they are dead. But if they don't know it," Terezi says, looking at you. You raise an eyebrow, waiting for the rest of the sentence. She glances towards where John was waiting, already back in the air. You see Jane picking up her weapon and looking at him in disgust. "We remind the piece of soul that is still the human that it's dead. Or completely destroy the corpse beyond use."

"Okay, so how do we tell someone that they're dead?" You ask, placing your hands on your hips.

"Hey John, do you have a moment to talk?" Terezi asks, waving a hand at the boy. He glances up, fuchsia tinted eyes trained on you. "It's really important, than you can go back to doing the windy thing, okay?"

"Maybe," he says, taking a step towards you. "What do you want to talk about?"

"Hey John, before we... Erm, we last saw you? We were matesprits, kinda. We were going to talk about it. We had flushed feelings for each other. I mean, you were all in, and didn't understand the quadrant system completely. But, we were going to talk about it when we got back from fighting the Condesce." You rub the back of our neck, feeling Jane behind you while Terezi glances at you.

"I.... I don't remember....?" John says, tipping his head to the side.

"John, my name's Vriska. Don't you remember me? I remember you, and all the time we spent together." You say, feeling a piece of you break at the thought of him not remembering.

"Shut your mouth," the voice says, wavering and you look at John. Terezi touches your hand and Jane looks up, watching the group. You shift, feeling her eyes on you as John presses a hand to his head.

"Vriska?" He asks, watching you. "Vriska, I-" He glanced down, looking at his hands. "We fought the Condesce, we lost." He whispers.

"We got away," you say with a nod. "But you... You died." You feel Terezi take your hand, offering you what pale comfort she could.

"I died," John agreed, looking down and glancing at the hammer in his hand. "Why am I here?"

"You got trapped," Jane says. "The Codnesce is a Thief of Life. She-"

"She made me a monster," John says, voice grim and you move forward, watching him fall to his knees. "How dare she!" You let him reach out to you, Terezi standing back. You see the pain in his eyes and the normal color. You meet his gaze and smiles.

"You can beat her," you say softly, horns angled down. You rest your hand on John's, biting back a remark when you see him smile at you.

"I know," John says, meeting your gaze. "Thank you for bringing me back to myself. Sorry I disappeared Jane! I wish I could have been there for you. Take down the batterwitch for all of us! And...love you Vriska," you watch his gaze shit and you stand up, watching the body disappear.

"He won," you say, feeling Terezi's hand in yours once more. "That's one down." You throw hair over your shoulder, standing straight and turning to Jane. "He's gone now, in a better place."

"Good," Jane said, pulling her weapon to her chest and looking at where John was. "He was a good brother," she whispers and you nod, unsure of what to add. It was a matespritship chance untaken and you wish you had seen where it would have ended.

***

"Come on," you say, ducking under the sword and finding the edge of the wall as Dave advances. You curse, bringing up your gun and blasting at him. You seem him vanish and are thankful for the couple second respite you were receiving.

"So, do we want to try and rip the soul out of him?" Sollux suggests, glancing at Dirk. "Breaking time isn't working."

"I could try-" Dirk curses, the sound of steel ringing out in the hallway. You take another shot, seeing it hurtle into a wall when Dave vanished once more. "But he needs to stay in place for more than a couple seconds. And stay in this time."

"So, Sol and I knock him down long enough for you to rip out the soul?" You ask, gaze sweeping the hallway. Sollux grimaces and raises his hands, sparks flashing. "We can't keep up this game of cat and mouse much longer."

"I think-" Dirk takes a breath, calming himself. "There are two pieces of soul. If I can get the chunk that is the Condesce out-"

"There's no way I'm letting you do that bro." Dave says and you swing, using your gun to block the sword from hitting Dirk. Dirk turns, Sollux already blasting his psionics in a massive wave of power. You see Dirk trembling, Sollux pressing a hand to his eyes. You see the hit land squarly on Dave's chest and you lunge forward, dropping your gun and sitting on Dave's chest, Sollux stumbling and flopping on his legs.

You move, your legs on either side of Dave's chest, your arms on his wrists. His furschia-red eyes stare up at you, a grin on his face.

"What are you going to do?" The puppet asks, tipping his head to the side.

"Dirk?" You call out, gritting your teeth. It felt strange and Dave is starting to struggle.

There's a tingling along Dave's body and you resist the urge to look. You stare at him, offering him half a smile as he begins to thrash more the longer you hold them there.

"We could have been good moirails," Dave says and you feel his body shudder, hear _something_ screaming behind you. His eyes fade back to their red color and you feel your heart beat faster. "Sorry I died bro. I meant to come back." He adds over your shoulder, loud enough for Dirk to hear and then he's gone. You're sitting on the floor, and quickly you scramble up, going to check on Sollux.

"I hate you," Sollux says, shooting you a weak eyed glare.

"You're a good deadweight at least." you offer, shoving your hands in your pockets. Dirk looks at you and then down at where the body was, picking up the sunglasses that were left behind.

"I'll miss you bro," he says with a sigh, tucking the glasses into his sylladex. You watch him walk forward, back straight and want to offer him words of comfort, but they don't come. You haul Sollux away from the wall, walking down the path after Dirk and letting the psionic lean on you until he was able to regain the ability to walk properly once more.


	10. Raging against Space

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character death in this upcoming chapter.
> 
> It was hard to write when I tried avoid taking the path that I did. But it is how the story wishes to write itself.

Blood is dripping down your face, the shock of brown distracting you. You hear the grunting of Jake, his gun going off and you look over your shoulder. You raise a hand to your temples and focus. You see Jade pause and look at you, tipping her head to the side. Aradia shouts, raising her whip and lashing out, catching the edge of Jade's weapon before she tugs.

"Good one!" Jake says and you hear the clatter of a gun hitting the ground.

"Do you think that'll slow me down?" Jade asks and you push your hand against your temple once more, feeling the panache that was consuming you. The snarl next to Jade made you glance over, seeing the large white dog-lusus by her side. You hadn't seen Bec since you had last fought the Condesce. now, you understand where he had gone. He was a good dog, he had stayed loyal to Jade.

"Tavros-" You duck as something is thrown at your head and you let out a curse, feeling the weight of Bec bowl into you. It's a second and Aradia is by your side, throwing Bec off of you and into another time. You glance at her and she shrugs, flashing you a smile.

"Any ideas on what we should be doing mates?" Jake asks, stopping next to you as Jade walks forward, something small in her hands. You grimace, seeing a spiked ball that had hit you earlier on the ground.

"You know, I always wanted to try new weapons!" Jade giggles and you feel time slow as Aradia enters the medium, moving you out of the way. Jade is moving slowly and you glance at Aradia, your wings shimmering behind you.

"We have a couple minutes before she catches up," Aradia confirms. "Jake, what do you think?"

"Me?" Jake asks, blinking at Aradia.

"Him?" You ask at the same time.

"Freedom and hope, what can we do with that?" Aradia asks, gaze trained on Jake.

"Uhm-" Jake frowns and you feel time snap back into place. You duck the ball coming to your face, your gaze landing on Jade. She grins and then steps through a portal she creates, disappearing.

"The hope that Jade is free?" You offer, glancing at Aradia.

"What do you mean?" Jake asks, glancing at you two and you scatter when Jade lands in front of you, shooting a gun. You flap your wings, glancing at Aradia and she grimaces, the thread of time slowing down once more.

"I think Tavros has a great point!" Aradia says, turning her smile on Jake. "You are our hope. We have to hope that Jade is freed from the hold of the Condesce!"

"I'm still not following," Jake decides, fiddling with his gun and reloading it to keep his hands busy. He patted his pockets, letting out a curse before he pulled out the extra rounds.

"Believe that Jade is free!" Aradia snaps and time gushes back full force. You're dodging a bullet as Jade looks up at you, eyes narrowed. You see Aradia blink out and you're ducking another shot, grabbing ahold of Jake and straining to lift him up.

"You and I are going to work together." You say, hefting him up and grunting at his weight. You want to drop him, but there was a chance-

Pain floods through you and you fall to the ground, brown blood pumping out of your chest. Jake growls, shooting several rounds of bullets into Jade and you see her bright red blood spill down your chest. You're surprised that she let you hit him and then you let the dark take you.

***

"Nepeta-"

You raise your claws, watching the figure drag his clubs across the ground. You feel your arms throb with pain. You see splashes of olive blood on the floor and you know Equius is in worse shape. There is far more blue than olive. You know he's been taking hits meant for you.

Your gaze trains on Gamzee, eyes narrowing to slits and you let out a yowl. Recently, you had a nightmare where you and Equius had died. You had kept it to yourself and as you move, you feel the swish of an arrow passing by your ear. You nod in approval as you see the arrow coming from nowhere. You see it hit Gamzee, the troll blinking at the space behind you, confusion in his movements as he tries to find Equius for the first time in a while.

You take the moment of lapsed attention to launch yourself at him, claws out. They drag across his throat and you feel the puppet fall to his knees at the impact of your tacklepounce. You close your eyes, feeling blood splatter you. You feel the thread you're looking for before you're thrown off.

You skid to a halt, on all fours as the purple blood glowers at you and you smile back, teeth barred. Another arrow strikes Gamzee's chest and you see Equius reappear, reinforced bow in hand. You nod at him, seeing him sigh and sag. You're sure that he had a broken arm in the way he holds it, but he grits his teeth and does not say a word one way or another.

"What will we do with the highblood?" He asks.

"Steal the sense of self," you say with a flash of inspiration. "It would give the Condesce nothing to hold on to." You explain, voice low and you see Gamzee looking around in confusion. Equius hesitates but then nods in agreement and you beam back at him, glad that he agreed on this. You tense when you hear Gamzee's voice filter through and Equius raises his bow once more, sending an arrow straight through the highblood's throat.

"I believe, with my immense strength, I can hold him down. How long will you need?" Equius asks and you consider the words.

"Pawsibly a minute, maybe more or less. I'm not...sure." You lean up, throwing your arms around Equius's neck. "Always pale for you," you say.

"Pale for you too," he responds, and you hold up your fingers, him completing the diamond. You pull away, setting your gaze on Gamzee. In a moment you're breaking free from the void and moving forward. You're wary. The fight has been going on too long and you see Equius move, shouting at Gamzee. And you lunge from behind, the troll's back to you as he moves towards Equius, ignoring you. You dig claws into his back, Equius coming towards him. You see Gamzee lean forward, dropping his clubs and taking Equius's bow before you rip.

It's not elegant, falling into someone else's sense of self. It's dark in here and you feel the crawl of chucklevoodoos that the Condesce could not access while controlling Gamzee and you thank whatever thing looking over you that she can't. You're stepping into the dark and you see the figure of a curled up troll, pink tendrils holding him place.

"Gamzee?" You call out and you remember how close you and he had been before your fight with the Condesce, before you thought he was dead. You had known him almost as well as you had known Equius. For a while, you had even shared at black quadrant and then he had disappeared and that had pissed you off. You had thought he was dead and now he was here. Just seeing him made you bristle in anger. He had left with no reason than you thought he had died.

"Hey there Kittysis,"

You turn, looking at the figure behind you, another form of Gamzee and you shake your head. Not the true sense you were looking for. The smell of the Condesce was too strong and you run for it. Even here, you have your claws and you're sinking into the piece of soul that is hiding under the control and stealing it away. And you're back in your own body. You see the puppet that was Gamzee sink to the ground and you see Equius, a string around his neck and his face fixed in a smile in front of you, Gamzee between you.

"Hey sis, he died with a motherfucking smile. Nightmares be up and motherfucking coming true." the voice whispers before you're left alone in the darkness of the hall. You let the piece of soul you stole go, felt the last bit of anger lash out in the Gamzee puppet before his body was still and you set about to destroying it, making sure that nothing could take control of it again.

"Equihiss," you whisper, pressing a hand to Equius's cheek before taking a shuddering breath. You refuse to destroy his body, this would end here. You mark the spot and head down the hall, covered and dripping purple blood as you walk.

***

You stare down at the body of your fallen matesprit, pressing a hand to the bullet wound in his chest. You let out a curse, maroon tears streaming down your face.

"It's going to be....okay," Tavros says, bringing a hand to your cheek and brushing his fingers over your tears. "Don't....cry dear." He whispers and you take his hand in yours, nodding.

You look up, seeing Jade in your sights and letting out a small snarl. Jake glances at you, blanching at the sight of your rage and taking a breath.

"Jade, do you have a moment?" Jake asks, holstering his guns and walking forward. "There is something that you and I must discuss, as family members. I would prefer if you didn't shoot at me or my friends." He adds when Jade moves her gun to him. She had been aiming it at you as you comforted your dying matesprit. And you want to yell at Jake to get away, he was going to get shot but you see Jade hesitate just a moment before she lowers her gun to look at him.

"What?" She asks, gaze catching sight of Tavros. Your heart flips when you meet her gaze. You push aside the hurt that is spreading and you want nothing more than to just stop hurting.

"I know you Jade, you're not like this." Jake says with a gesture to Tavros. "When we were younger, we always talked about exploring together. Now you're killing your friends! I know that you're not like this!"

You see Jade frown, tipping her head. And you see a light come on. She opens her mouth before something clamps down on her. You press your face into Tavros's chest, not wanting to watch. But you hear the scream that comes out of her mouth and you are reminded of the Condesce. Last time, you had escaped with most of you intact. It looks like this time, most of you would be done for.

You glance up, seeing Jake shine with his own light as he steps forward, shoulders drawing back and his arms spread. "I know you aren't like this!" He takes another step forward and you see his light touch Jade. You see her squirm, trying to run and then you see her crack a smile, cutting into the scream.

"No, no I'm not." Jade whispers and you see a sort of relief in her eyes. Her body spazzes and you see her drop to her knees, flinging the gun away. "Just keep believing Jake, your hope will help a lot." She winks at him and looks at you with sad eyes before you see the body crumple to the ground like the strings have been cut.

You feel a hand on your shoulder and you try to shrug him away but Jake grips your shoulder harder and shakes his head. "You can mourn him upon winning against the Condesce, we must move on though."

"Yes, I suppose. I will catch up to you though. Just, one last moment with him." You say, eyes on Tavros's still body and Jake nods. He gets up and heads further down the hallway. You stay with Tavros a moment longer before closing your eyes and getting up. You had a job to do, you wouldn't let it pass you by now. You would get revenge for Tavros.


	11. Light in Darkness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, sorry about the delay. Work on the farm has been getting more and more. My depression is getting worse, and this chapter was a pain in the absolute ass to write. Also went to a writing.
> 
> Good news, should only be one or two more chapters. May have finished soon-ish? Don't bet on that yet.
> 
> Sorry this chapter took so long.

You listen to your footsteps echo down the hallway. Feferi walks near you, her voice soft as she talks softly with Roxy. Her hands are moving and you are concentrating on blocking her out. The seemingly endless stream of words sets you on edge, crawling under your skin. You adjust the weight of your chainsaw when Feferi stops just in front of you, holding up her hand with a frown.

"There's someone coming," she says and Roxy pulls out her gun, face grim.

"Could it be our friends?" Roxy asks, gaze darting to Feferi.

"No," you say in a grim tone as you see the figure at the end of the hallway. If you really wished to, you could recall the touch of the figure's skin against yours and the few years you had together. But you shove the thoughts away, revving the chainsaw loudly and stepping forward. No puppet controlled by the Condesce would live as long as you breathed.

"Rosey?" Roxy says, squinting down the hallway with the scope of her gun. You pause in your walking, seeing her straighten. Your heart skips a beat and you see Rose step forward, hands up, face passive.

"Hello Kanaya," she says, eyes trained on you.

"Rose," you respond, unsure of how to move forward. You shift from foot to foot, watching as Rose smoothes down the front of her dress. You remember the blood that had poured from her chest, the tears that you had cried. You were absolutely sure that she had been killed before you even let them move you down to the brooding caverns and now... Now you weren't too sure.

"I am sorry that I left you." Rose says, keeping her eyes on you. You swallow, feeling the pain you held back for years rise up.

"How are you alive?" Roxy demands, stepping in between you. You lift your free hand, wiping away the tears that had started to form and you feel Rose's gaze still on you, despite her relative standing between you.

"I'm not," Rose says simply and you feel Feferi take in a sharp breath of air.

"You're a leech," she says, her voice verging on excitement and you glance at her, frowning.

"Would you mind filling me in?" You inquire, voice strained.

"I am leeching life from the Condesce," Rose explains, gesturing with her hands as she steps around Roxy and moves towards you. "Think of me like a vampire my dear Kanaya. I am being kept alive because the Condesce believes she has me under her control. However, she does not have me under complete control. I managed to slip past her bindings some time ago. While our friends have not..." She hesitates and takes a breath, a frown on her features.

"How can we be sure you're not lying?" Feferi demands and you want to rush forward, hug Rose tightly and never let her go. But you see that she is pale, the closer she walks to you. You see that her eyes are the blank white of the dead spirits you had once met. You swallow, watching Rose stop several feet in front of you as she turns her gaze to Roxy.

"I'm sorry I wasn't there for you." She says, taking Roxy's free hand, ignoring the gun as she looks in her eyes. She glances at Feferi in her own turn, nodding. "If you so wish, your Seer of Mind can look into my mind and give me a look over. That way you will know for sure if I am lying or not. If I am untruthful, release my soul. Convince me that I am really dead, get the Condesce's grip off of me and I will bother you no more."

"And the others?" You ask, watching Rose. You don't move closer and you see her hesitating as she looks at you as well. A tiny part of you wants to close the gap and hug her tight.

"I do not know. It was has been some time since I've seen them." Rose says, staring you in the eye as she speaks and you know she's telling you the truth. You nod, taking a step back and letting out a low breath. You tuck your chainsaw away, nodding at Feferi.

"Shall we find the others?" Roxy asks, shifting from foot to foot and you try to pick out what has her so tense. You watch her gaze dart around the room and you glance down the hallway, hearing voices. The sound of sobbing.

You step up the pace, seeing Rose keep pace with Roxy as the two talk. Feferi stays between you and them. You are grateful, unsure if you can trust yourself with Rose so close. You step into a chamber, seeing several hallways and your friends spilling into the chamber from other hallways. It's brighter in here than it had been and you blink in the light. You see Nepeta propped against a wall by herself, her knees pulled to her chest. Jake is talking to Aradia in a low voice and you look for Tavros and Equius.

"Kanaya!"

You turn to face Eridan when you hear your name, walking over to him.

"Can we get a status report?" Feferi asks, breezing past you and Eridan grimaces.

"It seems as if Rose is fighting against the Condesce." You say, voice soft as you see Eridan glance over your shoulder to where Rose and Roxy were standing and talking. "If she steps one foot out of line, I will dismember her myself." You promise, holding up your lipstick tube so he could see.

"Equius and Tavros are dead, fighting against Gamzee and Jade respectively." Eridan says, voice business like. "Vriska, Terezi, and Jane were able to take care of John. Vriska is in bad shape, but she'll heal. It's emotional at this time. Dirk, myself and Sollux handled Dave. Sollux is recovering from nearly overextending his powers. He will not be much help when fighting the Condesce. Tavros, Aradia, and Jake eventually shattered the Condesce's hold on Jade. In the process, Tavros was culled. Equius and Nepeta fought bravely and Nepeta was able to help move Gamzee along, at the cost of Equius's life. She is unwilling to continue on at this point. I figure it would be best to let her grieve. Aradia will continue if only to get a piece of the Condesce while she can."

You listen to him, jumping when you feel a hand on your shoulder. You turn to look into the dead eyes of Rose, watching her. You turn, bringing your free hand up to touch her cheek gently. Behind you, you can hear Feferi begin to talk, focusing all of her attention on her tactician.

"I missed you," you whisper and Rose nods back. You step backwards, getting Eridan and Feferi privacy as you seek privacy yourself.

"I tried to think of any way I could get back to you. I wish I could have done better." Her voice is low and soft, just as you remember it. When you look in her eyes, you're expecting to see her eyes, not the blank white that stares back. You glance away quickly, shifting from foot to foot. You're not sure what else to say. "I will fight with you." She adds, voice low and you nod.

"Are you sure that is a good idea?" You ask, taking her hands in yours. She's cold and you suppress your own shiver of surprise at the contact. You had missed this, that much was true.

"It is as good as any." Rose says, looking up at you with a smile.

"Are you sure you will not be hurt?" You ask. You couldn't bare to lose her a second time. It would break you.

"I'm already dead Kanaya." Rose reminds you and you frown but nod in response. "I cannot be hurt again. I can only move on in death."

You glance around the group, watching Aradia sit down next to Nepeta. The two trolls huddled together, neither of them speaking. Feferi gathers the others, her face grim with Eridan by her side. You search for words to say but Rose is already moving away, your body automatically following her, hands still being held.

"We need to move fast. She may have felt the others pass beyond her control." You hear Rose say, stopping in front of Feferi. "If she gains control of me, you will know by the changing of my eye color. Tell me, did the others....?" You let go of Rose's hands, placing your own in your pockets and looking at the ground.

She hesitates and you see grim nods from around the room. Eridan looks down at his hands before looking at Rose. You see that despite his scrubbing, there is still blood on them.

"Our plan did not include you in it." He says, gesturing for Terezi to come forth. "Can you check to make sure that she is truly under her own power?"

Terezi frowns, glancing at him from where she had been standing next to Vriska. You see blue tear tracks down the troll's face and you shuffle around the semi-circle that had formed. The humans are clustered together, their eyes distant but pointed in Feferi's direction. You wonder if they had been crying recently as you place a hand on Vriska's shoulder.

"Are you okay?" You ask, voice soft.

"Such a pale reaction Maryam," Vriska says, turning her eyes to you and arching an eyebrow. "Are you going to remind me not to betray everyone again?"

"I have faith in you," you say with a shrug. "I do not believe that you would do so again. There would be no point. You could gain nothing from betraying us a second time, not when she knows you betrayed her."

"Thanks Kanaya." Vriska says, glancing away from you. You turn your gaze back to Terezi and Rose, seeing the troll frown before shaking her head.

"There's the taint of the Condesce in there, but Rose is in control. I don't know how she's doing it." Terezi takes a step back and you tense, hearing a laugh that makes your heart ache.

"It's because Rose is too smart for her own fucking good." A voice says and you look up, seeing the silhouette of Karkat in the frame of the doorway.


	12. Knight takes Queen

You stare at the troll in the doorway, gritting your teeth. You and Karkat had an interesting relationship and from the corner of your eye, you can see Dirk tense. You still regret taking him to see Feferi. You wish you hadn't, but it was the only way forward.

"Karkat," Feferi says, taking a step toward him and holding out her trident. She had been leaning on it earlier. "I, as the heiress, wish to challenge the Condesce to a fight. One on one duel, as per the old customs."

You frown, feeling the air around you shift and shimmer. Time seemed to slow down and speed up all at once and you raise an eyebrow. The migraine you are supporting could be to blame. You glance up when you hear Karkat speak.

"Wouldn't you know, she's not in." Karkat says, crossing his arms and narrowing his eyes. You roll your own eyes, wondering where the Condesce could be if not here. You doubted that she wasn't not here.

"Then where is she?" Feferi demands, her trident level with Karkat's chest.

"You suckas," a voice says and you see several of the trolls move, weapons drawn as you hear footsteps. The Condesce comes into the chamber, her own trident dragging across the floor behind her. "I shore hope it's a betta attempt than last time little fish." She says, her gaze narrowing on Feferi. "You want a one on one battle? I'll give you a one on one battle."

"Yes," Feferi says, tilting her chin up and staring the Condesce in the eye. "You're going to die. This, I promise you." Her shoulders are set and you remember a time where you could never get her to back down when she made up her mind like that.

"Now, you're shore of yourself little shrimp." The Condesce laughs and you feel a wave of fear rush over you. You swallow, staring down at the Condesce before your gaze snaps to Karkat. He's no longer there and you curse, Ahab's Crosshair already on your shoulder before you realize it as you search for the dead troll.

"Yes," Feferi says and you see the collected trolls shuffle off to the side. When you look at the Condesce, you sense something wrong as you hear a snarl, the revving of a chainsaw forcing you to spin as Rose moves, wands in her hands raised and pointed, but you can't keep track of anything.

"Looks like I'm down to two puppets. Cod damn, you can be efishnet when you want to be. Boat I'm not having that." Condesce moves, her trident raised in the air and you are a step too slow. The place breaks out into a blur and something hits you in the back of the head. You collide with the ground, accepting the darkness that claims you.

You wonder if you were dead. How you wish you were was the last thought to claim you.

***

You roll the trident in your hands, finding a peace within you as you hear the shouts of Karkat running through the trolls. Your gaze is on Condesce and you see Kanaya out of the corner of your eye, backing Rose into a corner. You see her eyes flash fuschia, and then you push them out of your mind. You see Eridan fall and you raise your weapon in time to block a strike, a grin flashing across the Condesce's face.

"Little fish, you gonna be betta this tide around?" She asks, her trident pushing against yours. You feel your arms tremble but you push back on the Condesce's trident, seeing Aradia flash behind her in a blur of red. A whip snaps and wraps around the Condesce's neck and you surge forward, stepping to the side as Karkat comes barreling at you, Dirk hard on his heels.

There's a gun shot and you see it strike the Condesce in the chest. There's a cry and you see Karkat doubled over to the side of you. It's a blur and you can't keep up as your trident finds a weak spot, sinking into the flesh of the Condesce's chest and you see Karkat once more, sickles blazing. Fuschia blood scatters the floor and you take a heavy breath, falling to your knees.

Everything hurts and you distantly wonder if you pushed yourself too far.

Nearby, you hear a guttural scream before it became a whimper, the Condesce's trident impaling Terezi in one last throw and you wince as you hear Vriska scream in anger. Her sword flashes, the blue biting into the Condesce if only for revenge. You see Nepeta in the corner, eyes wide like a startled cat. Under her is Sollux, the troll having fallen unconscious when he stopped moving. Nepeta stands over him, protecting him and you see red blood on her claws.

There's a clatter of silence and you look up, watching the Condesce look at you with dimming eyes before she falls down, not moving.

***

You stare at the corpse before you, your blade dripping red blood. Your stomach rolls, the sight of Karkat's body making you nauseous. It was over within minutes and everyone is talking at once. You see Kanaya kneeling next to Rose, Roxy standing next to them. You make your way to where Eridan lays unconscious. You see violet leaking from his hair and Jane looks up warily when you call her over from where she was checking on Sollux, called by a frantic Nepeta.

"Did you get what happened?" You ask, voice soft when Jane joins you. In the time that the battle had taken place, things had gone too fast to follow. Feferi sits, staring at the body of her ancestor and you turn your gaze to Jane. You don't want to look at the bodies anymore.

"Terezi died," she says, focusing on Eridan and healing the gash. "Karkat knocked Eridan out; Vriska is upset but unhurt; Jake ran out of bullets the dork. Uhm.... The other trolls look stunned. I-I didn't, not a whole lot." She admits. "I was fine standing off to the side. I'm a healer, not a fighter."

"Yo Aradia," you call, getting up and walking over to the maroon blood. She looks up at you, a strange look on her face. "Did you...catch any of that?" He asks, glancing around the room as you gesture. Fuschia blood is still leaking from the Condesce. Vriska is sobbing over Terezi's body and Kanaya is walking over, resting a hand on her shoulder. She says something, the couple too far away to hear.

Aradia shakes her head, her hair wild and her eyes large. "Too much happening at once, I think." She says slowly. You look at her eyes and wonder what she's lying about as her gaze darts around the room. But you decide to ignore it.

"Right," you say and go around the circle, checking on everyone living.

You kneel next to Eridan when he stirs, poking him in the shoulder.

"Wha...?" The troll blinks at you, moving to push himself up.

"You slept through the battle like a baby." You say with a grin.

"Fuck," Eridan presses a hand to his head as he sits up, gaze landing on the dead body. "How long was I...?"

"An hour, maybe more? I don't know." You admit with a shrug. "Hey, once this is all said and done, let's hang out. I'll teach you some moves with the sword."

"Sounds like a date," Eridan groans and closes his eyes, sinking back into sleep as you giggle at the thought of it being a date.

_Two Weeks Later_

You stare at the reports of the final battles, trying to get them in order. You had been working on this for nearly two days and when you hear a knock at the door, you give up. You had gotten the individual battles sorted, but the rest are a complete You push the papers to the side, getting up and limping over to the door. When you open it, you see Kanaya. And behind her, you see Feferi fidgeting with the sleeve of her dress. She looks tired and overall unhealthy.

"Oh cod," Feferi says, her fins flaring out. "You look like carp Erifin. Have you been getting into fights again?" Her gaze darts down to your left leg.

You look at her with a raised eyebrow. "I don't have the time to be fighting." You mutter, thinking of your meet ups with Dirk.

"Then why are you limping?" Feferi asks and you shrug. No need to tell her that Dirk had cut you because you didn't block his sword in time. It had been an accident anyway.

"Sparring accident," you settle on. "I'm in the middle of cleaning up a mess. What can I do for you?" You ask.

"We need to talk. You, Kanaya, and I." Feferi says with a wave at Kanaya. "I trust you two as my advisers. And preferably not in the hallway?"

"Very well then," you beckon Feferi and Kanaya into your office, shutting the door behind them. If you let yourself think about it, you could still imagine Dave's blood on your hands and-

"What is it?" You ask, looking up at the seadweller and tipping your head to the side. You see her hesitate, brushing hair out of her face. She looks old to you. Something that you hadn't considered before. She wasn't old to begin with, none of you were.

"I have cancer." She says, folding her hands in front of her. She had taken one of the free seats, Kanaya shadowing her. She frowns, resting a hand on Feferi's shoulder and asking something you couldn't hear.

"How? Fuchsia bloods live a long time-" you begin and Feferi shakes her head, breaking into your thoughts.

"Cancer," she says again. "I was diagnosed two years ago. That's why we had to move when we did." She waves a hand idly around the room, eyes trained on you as you fumble to take your seat. "I had Kanaya keep an eye on my descendent because of this. Without her... The Condesce would have continued to rule. Do you understand?"

"No," you say, landing heavily in the chair. "You fuckin fought the Condesce because you were dying?" You demand.

"It was the only way." Feferi explains, voice calm.

"If she did not defeat the Condesce, what hope would a mere wriggler have of defeating her?" Kanaya asks, voice taunt. "At least Feferi had the backing of friends."

"You distorted space and time," you say, turning to Kanaya. "That's one of the reasons we couldn't keep track of everything."

"With Aradia's help," Kanaya admits and it clicks in place. Everything was happening at once, from the different perspectives, it felt like something had been missing from the reports. Now it was put into place. With everything happening and with Aradia and Kanaya working together, things wouldn't make sense to anyone.

"Will you two be the empress's council?" Feferi asks, drawing your attention back to her. "She is young, not even eight sweeps. I will not survive more than another year. I can teach her what I can in that time, but..."

"I will do my best," you say and pick up your phone when you see a message appear.

\---timaeusTestified began pestering caligulasAquarium---

TT: Hey Eri.

TT: You up for another strife practice?

CA: tonight fivve pm

TT: Sounds good, I'll make sure to go easy on you.

CA: but first

CA: theres newws ill share wwith you then

TT: Wait

TT: What sort of news?

CA: tell you then

\---caligulasAquarium ceased pestering timaeusTestified---

TT: That's not fair Eridan!

"I have somewhere to be at five. But you have my ear until four." You say, looking at Feferi. You found before that life moves on. Mysteries live on and not everything could be explained rationally. You didn't care what happened in the battle. There was a mystery solved that you wonder if it needed to be solved in the first place.

"Very well," Feferi says and begins to talk, laying out her future plans as Kanaya sits next to her, listening and adding in her own thoughts and the time passes on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wish I was completely better at writing fighting scenes.  
> I have no excuse for this chapter. Enjoy, let me know what you think.
> 
> I'll admit, I wrote this originally cause I wanted EriDirk and it turned into something else. Really wish it had more EriDirk in it. But, yeah, tell me what you think and sorry I'm such shit at writing battle scenes.


End file.
